Ptolemy's Return
by XxBlackChaosxX
Summary: Kitty tries to find a way to reunite Bartimaeus and Ptolemy. But what happens when she gets caught up in murder, theft, and a plot of power? Rated T to be safe
1. I: Kitty

**Okay, this is my first fanfic on a book, so it might be harder for me to capture the actual personality or looks of the character. Please be nice; give constructive criticism rather then flames. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Bartimaeus Trilogy. Learn that now and I won't have to beat it through your thick skulls later. **

**Kitty Jones **

It had been five years since Nathaniel had died. Kitty had been offered a seat in the Council of Parliament, but she had declined the offer. She was more interested in djinn nowadays. Ever since her visit to the Other Place, her curiosity had been sparked. There was no limit to her lust for knowledge. So many questions were left unanswered. Whenever she got one answered, she'd think of a dozen more.

Sometimes, Kitty would summon djinn to simply answer a question. She would summon the djinn, ask the question, -and when she got the answer-, would scribble down the answer in her notebook and dismiss the djinn. Summons rarely lasted more then a few hours. She used no discipline, and always stuck to her original plan no matter what. She planned to somehow reunite Bartimaeus and Ptolemy.

But that hypothesis was impossible, wasn't it? How was it possible to summon a human's spirit? There was, in theory, a world called the Spirit World, a place where all of the spirits of the dead went to live forever. If she was correct in her studies, then she'd be able to summon Ptolemy with ease. Just so long as she followed the proper steps. But Ptolemy had been dead and gone for over two thousand years. Summoning the dead seemed impossible. Surely it was. Was it, though? That was where Kitty's true imagination sparked.

Kitty yawned. She forced her eyes to stay open and she forced her mind to concentrate on the book she was reading. She could feel her consciousness on the subject slipping away.

Off in the distance, Big Ben struck midnight. His chimes echoed around London, beckoning Kitty to sleep. Kitty stifled a yawn. She had been up for three days straight, researching the possibilities of spiritually summoning a human. It seemed she had gone on a wild goose chase. Kitty's eyes got heavier and heavier until finally…

Kitty woke with a start the next morning. She glanced over at the clock on the wall opposite her. Noon. Kitty slammed her fist on the table. "Damn." She said aloud. She was late for work _again. _Kitty sighed and hurried with her things. "If I'm late again, Mr. Button'll kill me." She said quietly to herself. She hurried out the door.

By the time Kitty got to Mr. Button's place, it was two-thirty. Kitty rushed through the door. "Sorry I'm late Mr. Button!" She called. No answer. "Mr. Button?" Kitty called out, almost to herself. Still no answer. Kitty slowly crept into the 'library' portion of Mr. Button's house. Everything was quiet. Too quiet. Eerily quiet. Something was up. "Mr. Button?" Kitty called again. Her voice was a little stronger then before. But she still seemed desperate.

Kitty slowly turned down the corridor and opened the door to Mr. Button's study.

Kitty screamed.

An hour later, the authorities piled in and around Mr. Button's house.

Kitty's hands were shaking violently from both shock and anger. She was sitting in a chair now, trying to recap what had happened. She dared not close her eyes, for fear of what she might see.

Kitty had found Mr. Button's body in chains on the right hand wall. He had been stabbed multiple times. His normally clean cloths were stained with blood. Blood had not only poured from his wounds, but every opening in his body. He had a red gag tied around his mouth to keep him of screaming out for help. The gag had originally been white. His teeth were covered in blood and saliva. Every inch of his body had been torn open, every pore oozing blood.

It was a gruesome sight, really. Mr. Button had been unrecognizable. His face had been torn apart, most likely from something in humane. His stomach had been torn open, and most of his insides were missing. His back had been stabbed multiple times. Most of his scalp was missing. The brain underneath it was massacred. Its pieces had been thrown around the room, its blood used to decorate the walls. Mr. Button's intestines were tied around his own throat, as if it was used to choke him.

Jane Farrar walked over to Kitty and sat in a chair opposite her. She was quiet for a moment, and then spoke. "Lizzie, do you have any idea who might have done this or why they might have done so?"

Kitty shook her head violently from both anger and shock. "No. No idea at all."

"At what time did you find Mr. Button?"

"Two-thirty."

"And what were you doing before you got here?"

Kitty gave a heavy sigh. She didn't like to be interrogated, especially by _Farrar. _"I was up all night the night before. I fell asleep at midnight and woke up at noon. Then I left and got here at two-thirty."

"Where were you exactly?"

"My place." Farrar nodded, sighed, and sat back in her chair. Someone broke into their conversation.

"Mrs. Farrar," Kitty and Farrar both looked up to the source of the voice. A Grey back Policeman with dark black hair and dangerous yellow eyes. The figure motioned for Farrar to come over. "a word please." Farrar and Kitty turned to face each other.

"Please excuse me, Lizzie." Kitty nodded and watched Farrar as she walked away.

Kitty stared at the man. _Either Djinn, _She thought to herself. _Or werewolf. _The thought of Mr. Button's body came back to her. She quickly looked away.

**A/n **

**That's it for now. I'll update soon. Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! **


	2. II: Jane Farrar

**Chapter 2**

**Jane Farrar **

When Farrar reached her djinn (Cleverly disguised as a Grey Back Policeman) she crossed her arms. "So," She stopped for a moment. "have you found anything?"

"Well, there's no traces of magic here. So this was an actual murder. Obviously, the criminal was very sick minded. Something caused him to bleed through every opening in his body. He might have died before he was stabbed."

"Oh _come on _Barloa. That's obvious enough." Farrar sighed. "Search the rest of the house. Leave no speck of dust unchecked."

The Grey back bowed. "Yes, _master." _It spat out master, as if forced to do her will. The Grey back left the room.

Farrar stole to the bookcase. She was alone in the room with Lizzie Temple. That was her false identity, of course. Everyone knew that. Her real name was Kathleen Jones. But because of what she had done five years before, she was excused.

Farrar choose a random book from the shelf, took it, and flipped through its pages. "So, Ms. _Temple," _Farrar looked up from her book and over to Kitty. Kitty looked up to Farrar. Farrar continued. "Your master was a magician?"

"Yes."

"Are you?"

"No." Farrar looked back to the book. She closed it, put it away, and skimmed the spines of the other books. All was silent for a moment.

"You know, _Lizzie, _being a magician is a powerful gift."

"So I've heard."

"From these books I see Mr. Button was a magician."

"I _just _told you he was." Farrar looked over to Kitty and gave her a cold stare. Kitty returned it with an even colder one. All those years working for the Resistance gave her a wide array of mean faces. Farrar went on.

"And you were his apprentice?"

"Where is this going?"

"Just answer the question." Kitty gave Farrar another stare for a moment, then answered.

"Part time."

"So, you're a magician?"

"_No. _You and I both know that. You know I'm a commoner. Why are you asking me this _now_?"

Farrar went on as though she hadn't heard. "But you were his apprentice."

"Only _part time. _I _worked _for him. I didn't _learn _anything."

"So you worked for him and got paid by him?"

"Yes. But what does this--?"

"And what did you do for him?"

Kitty gave another heavy sigh. Being interrogated by Farrar just didn't fit into her schedule. Not that she had one, but she needed an excuse to keep Farrar from learning anything. "I sorted through his books. Kept them neat and in the right places. But what does this--?"

"And how exactly did you come to meet Mr. Button?"

"I was doing an errand for a friend. Mr. Button was telling me how he needed a new apprentice, and I said I'd do it part time."

"And who was your friend?"

"He's dead and gone now." The cold tone to her voice shocked Farrar and Kitty both. Kitty did her best to keep her voice straight and continued. "No need to worry about him. He died about five years ago. _He _wouldn't be much of a help, now would he?" being interrogated by Farrar was taking its toll on Kitty's manners. She needed to get out before she let too much slip.

"Did Mr. Button ever summon anything with you present?"

"A few times, yes."

"And what did he do?"

"Asked them questions."

"About what?"

Kitty could feel her temper rising. It was none of Farrar's business. Farrar was just trying to find her weaknesses. "He was a _scholar _Jane. He asked questions about things like the past. He wanted to write his own book someday." Kitty had lied there. She wasn't exactly sure of Mr. Button's true intensions. Maybe he did want to write a book, maybe not. She'd never find out. Farrar broke her thoughts.

"He summoned demons to ask them _questions?_"

"Yes, if you heard correctly."

"No reason to forget your manners, Ms. Temple. I'm doing my job."

_Doing your job of being a bitch. _Kitty thought to herself. _And you're pretty good at it, too. _Farrar broke her thoughts…_again. _

"Why'd he summon the demons?"

"I just told you." Farrar gave a sigh of frustration.

"You've been very helpful _Kitty. _You can go for now."

**A/n **

**Okay, hope this is good enough. Sorry about the name Baldova. It was the only thing I could think of that sounded Demonic. Oh well, next chapter coming soon. **


	3. III: Kitty

**Chapter 3**

**Kitty **

Kitty collected her things as fast as she could. She was all too eager to get away from Farrar. Before she left, she collected all of the books Mr. Button had on either human summoning or Ptolemy. She did all this without Farrar raising a finger in suspicion. Farrar had left the room to no doubt scold her djinn for failing to do something. Kitty stuffed the books into her bag and stole for the door before anyone could suspect a thing.

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By the time she got 'home', it was a little after nine. The whole 'murder' case had taken about seven hours. Amazing how people could get worked up over a murder. No one had cared when Nathaniel had killed himself so he could save London from Nouda…

Kitty pushed the thought from her mind. She wouldn't allow herself to be hurt again. No way, no how. Nathaniel was dead and gone, no point in killing herself over the past.

Kitty threw her bag on her new 'kitchen table' and sighed. She looked around. Anything to eat? Sadly, no. She had been neglecting her job as a bartender, and was eventually fired. And even worse, Mr. Button was gone. She now had no magical resources beyond the library. The government restrained _all_ magical books from being available to the public, so now her thirst for knowledge grew ever more. All the library had on magic was historical books about Gladstone, or the battles of Prague, nothing worth reading. Commoners like herself would have to find different ways to learn more about summons.

Kitty sat down at the kitchen table—if you could call a coffee table and actual kitchen table—and went through her bag. What little knowledge she had left would have to do. The police would surely restrict her from obtaining Mr. Button's books, and she wouldn't have anything about magic to read besides the books she already had.

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A little while later, Kitty yawned and looked at the clock. Midnight again, and she hadn't shown up for work at the Frog Inn. Kitty slapped herself on her forehead in stupidity. "Stupid." She said aloud to herself. She had been fired from the Frog Inn for at least three days by now. Her mind was so off track, it was hard to keep her thoughts current.

Big Ben struck midnight. Kitty gave a small jump of surprise. Her sleepiness was keeping her from being focused on anything. It was hard to keep thought on something for more then a few minutes. Kitty badly needed sleep, and she knew it. Kitty forced herself to close the book. She had decided. Tomorrow—after a good night sleep—she would summon Bartimaeus.

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**A/n **

**Sorry that's a little short, but it'll get better soon. Hang in there! **


	4. IV: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 4 **

**Bartimaeus**

Oh, _this was interesting. _The painful, prickling feeling in my bowls started up. Someone was summoning me. But who? It was presumed dead after Nathaniel's fall(1.) My name had been erased from all demonology(2) books. No one knew I still existed.

No one but Kitty.

But it couldn't be Kitty calling to me, could it? But she's not a magician…(3)

Anyway, I allowed the summons to take me. Perhaps I'd get someone interesting. It had been five years since I'd last been summoned, and honestly, I didn't mind all that much. Hmm, so many guises I could take. So many choices. I decided to take the form of Ptolemy.(4)

When the binds of the summoning brought me to Earth, the first thing I did was look around. I was in a one roomed apartment. The bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and living room were all in one.(5) It was a dreary place really. One window and one door. No carpet, so it was really drafty. The entire place was lit by a single candle.(6) My pentacle was drawn well enough, so there'd be no way for possible escape. Oh well. Karma always comes back to hit you. Look what happened to Nathaniel.

I looked into the face of my master and smiled.(7) "Kitty."

"Bartimaeus." Kitty replied. She was extremely tired from the looks of it. She had the baggy eyes and everything.(8)

"What's up?"

I could tell Kitty had been holding back a yawn. She caved in and did so. She stretched as well. I looked over to the clock. One o'clock in the morning. Odd. Especially with someone like her. You'd expect them to summon a being such as myself after they've rested. But Kitty looked as though she hadn't gotten sleep in days. Kitty broke my thoughts.

"I need your help."

Ptolemy shifted an eyebrow. "For what?"

"My master—Mr. Button—has been murdered. Just yesterday in fact."

"And…?"

"And—I know I don't usually do this—but I was wondering if you could try to figure out what happened."

Ptolemy raised his eyebrow again. "You mean like a charge?"

"No. I'm not a magician."

"Sorry(9), but using magic and being successful in it is being a magician. Besides, you've summoned me and you're asking me to do something. That's a charge."

Kitty stopped for a moment to think this over. "That may be so, but you have a choice. You can either help me or not. You decision. You don't have to if you don't want to."

"So, you're giving me a choice?"

"Yes."

Ptolemy considered this for a moment. He was good at doing stuff like this in a detective-like manner. "Well, it _is _a murder case…And I _do _like murder cases…Um…"(10) Kitty was silent. I finished. "Okay, why not? I mean, it _is _a _murder _case."

"Yes, and we all know how much you _love _murder cases."(11) She stopped for a moment. I knew not to give her any lip. I could tell she was way too worn to deal with it. She continued. "Thank you, Bartimaeus."

That's where I grew a blank look. "Wait, what?"

"I said 'thank you' ever heard of it?"

"No."(12)

"Well, anyway," Kitty glanced over to a large pile of books on a 'table' if you could call it that. She breathed the rest. "I've got a lot of work to do."

Ptolemy looked over to the table and raised a suspicious eyebrow. "Why, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry about that _yet. _I'll tell you later."

Ptolemy shrugged. "Okay then," I turned my back on her, expecting her to tell me to stop. "I guess I'll be going then." A thought occurred to me. I turned back around. "What do I get out of this? I mean, I _am willingly _tying myself to Earth. What do I get?"

Kitty looked at me and smiled.(13) "If I can figure everything out, you'll see. And if memory serves, you'll like it too."

"_Okay _then," I said as I turned my back to her. "I guess I'll be going then." I was half hoping Kitty would stop me for a moment. She remained silent, deep in thought, I suppose. Ptolemy disappeared and was replaced by a pigeon. The pigeon took to the sky and flew out the window.

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(1) Or, I _think _he died. He dismissed me before I could find out. He must have though. He'd summon me if he lived. That and I was the only thing keeping Gladstone's staff from using full force in the first place. Yup, no doubt about it. Nathaniel was dead and gone. Oh well. Doesn't bother me none.

(2) Djinnology, as I prefer to call it.

(3) But then again, she went to the Other Place with me. The only other person to do that was Ptolemy, but he was a magician. Kitty surely defies all laws. She's not a magician, but she can cast a 'spell' strong enough for me to hear it in the Other Place. Only Ptolemy had been able to do that. But then again, he was the only one who _tried. _Damn. I'm confusing myself, but mostly you. I'm sure you're all lost by now.

(4) If I took the form of Kitty and she was the one who was summoning me, I'd feel a little embarrassed. Shut up. Don't even _think _about asking. Anyway, it was her, Nathaniel, or Ptolemy. No matter what Nathaniel did, he could _never _win me over. He kept me enslaved for two years straight. The bastard. So as you can see, he doesn't deserve to be remembered.

(5) Hence _one room apartment. _That means all the rooms are in one, if you didn't catch that. You didn't? Didn't expect you to. Humans are so dense.

(6) And the candles required for my summons. Forgot did you? Figures.

(7) No, it wasn't a happy smile. It was more sly, cunning, you know? Oh _that's _right, you people are humans. There's no way you'd understand. Okay, I'll try. Think of someone evil smiling when they re-meet someone they once knew. That was me. And no I'm not evil. God damn humans.

(8) Not good enough? Well let me try again: Her eyes were baggy and dark around the edges. Presumably from lack of sleep. Her posture was nothing of what I remembered. It used to be ready and willing for a fight. Now it looked tired and overused. She obviously had worn herself down to the point where the summons had drained her of all the energy she had. It was a surprise she was upright and talking. Her aura was surprisingly dull. Her usual aura lit the room. Now it was lucky to have lit the space around her. Kitty was wearing herself to the ground.

(9) Not really. Even to Kitty, I don't apologize. Never have. Not even to Ptolemy himself. Never once apologized, never will.

(10) All of this was a distraction to see if Kitty would loose her patience with me. Most magicians do when they summon me. But Kitty stayed silent and patient. She reminded me vaguely of Ptolemy.

(11) I could sense both the sarcasm and the weariness in her voice. Like I said before, she was wearing herself down to the ground. The summons had totally drained her.

(12) In all my life, I almost never heard anyone say thank you. Ptolemy had been the last before Kitty. You could see why it was a little shocking. Her attitude proved she was overworking herself. I was sure of it. Now to figure out why…

(13) It was a worn-out, warm smile. Not the kind people usually use. It was more like the kind you use when you tired, and you're being sarcastic at the same time. The expression on her face was totally alien to me. Defiantly didn't like it.

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**A/n **

**Well, that's the chapter. Hope you liked it. Hope I got Bartimaeus down _somewhat. _Well anyway, next chapter coming soon. **


	5. V: Kitty

**Chapter 5**

**Kitty **

As soon as Bartimaeus left, Kitty tiredly stepped out of her pentacle and sat down at her table. She found _Acrophyllia _and flipped it open. She began to read.

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A few hours later, Kitty had finished the book and had taken down as much notes as she possibly could. Kitty read through the notes.

Steps for reaching the Other Place

1. Find silver for protection

2. Make sure pentacle is large enough to hold a person when lying down

3. Say summoning incantations backwards

4. Call name of djinni 3 times

5. Close eyes and wait

Necessary Cautions

1. make sure to lie down and say incantations.

2. Make sure housing pentacle is broken in some way.

3. hold on to a piece of iron _lightly _

When Kitty found her notes to be relevant, she closed _Acrophyllia _and picked up a biography of Ptolemy.

Kitty gave a heavy frustrated sigh. The entire book had been written in hieroglyphics. In order for her to understand it, she'd have to learn how to read and translate Ancient Egyptian. And how was she supposed to do that? How was she supposed to translate the whole book before Bartimaeus came back? She couldn't. Plain and simple.

But then again, she _could_–in theory—ask Bartimaeus for his help. But then he'd get suspicious more then what he already was. Somehow, she'd have to trick him into helping without him being fully aware of what she was doing. Somehow, she'd have to teach herself without drawing Bartimaeus' attention. She wouldn't be able to ask him anything, either. He'd find out what she was doing. He'd get suspicious no matter what she did. Somehow, someway, he'd find out. Eventually.

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Kitty forced herself to focus on Ptolemy's biography. She couldn't make any of it out. Maybe if she closed her eyes for just a minute…

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**A/n **

**That's it for now. Hope it's good enough. Bartimaeus' chapter coming next!**


	6. VI: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 6 **

**Bartimaeus**

Hmm, all this fake freedom, and I don't know what to do. Kitty hadn't been very clear on what _exactly _I had to do. All she said was to try o find out what had happened to Mr. Button—whoever _he _was. She didn't even tell me how he died or where he lived.

The pigeon landed on the roof of Whitehall and changed to an imp before anyone could see. It crept around the corner and met two other imps. One was fairly larger then the other, and I suspected spies.(1) I decided to try to pry information out of them.

"Psst," I hissed. The other two looked over to me.

"Oi!" One shouted.

"Shut up!" I replied. "I'm strictly on business."

The two imps walked over to me. The larger one asked the questions. "What be your business?"(2) I checked the imps on the plane. The smaller one was an imp, but the second…

"Murder case."

"You work for Farrar?" The smaller one asked.(3)

"No." The larger one spoke again.

"Then who _do _you work for?"

"Why do you need to know?"(4)

"Just curious."

The other imp spoke up. "You're doing the Button case? I heard about it."

I perked up a little at this. I needed any information he had. "You did? What happened?"

"He was murdered. No one knows how exactly. Heard it was quite gruesome, it was—" The larger one cut the little one off.

"We should be going. We have work to do elsewhere."(5)

"And where is it you have to go?"

"Why do you care?" The larger imp and I edged closer to one another. The smaller one broke in.

"Come, come chaps! No need to start fightin' is there? Guv'nor," The imp said as he turned to me. "if you want to know about Mr. Button, go to his place and see for yourself."

"Uh, thanks Guv'nor." And with that I flew off.

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(1) Not like you would. You people are fooled by the dumbest hypocrite. But then again, you all are hypocrites.

(2) This imp sounded suspicious. He might have been working for the enemy. I had to thin before I said anything, or I'd let something important slip.

(3) I could tell from here he was innocent enough. Didn't need to worry about the smaller one. But the larger one seemed bad. I had to keep an eye on him. _Especially _after what he showed me on the seventh plane.

(4) Damn, no I was totally suspicious. Dumbass!

(5) Imps don't talk like that. Whoever was disguising themselves was doing a bad job at it. A higher entity such as myself would be able to detect this easily. _You people, _however, are easily subdued. Like I said before. Oh so gullible.

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**A/n **

**Sorry that took so long to write. Long story. Anyway, I know Bartimaeus is a little out of character. Sorry about that. But so many things have been coming up lately. Anyway, next chapter coming soon! Thanks for reading! **


	7. VII: Kitty

**Chapter 7 **

**Kitty **

Five days had gone by since Bartimaeus had been summoned. Again, Kitty had gotten little or no sleep. She had been researching both Ptolemy and Bartimaeus. Neither had been together in any of the books she had read.

There had to be a way to summon the spirit of Ptolemy. Some American Indian tribes had done it. But then again, they were never seen alive again. Maybe they had done something wrong.

Perhaps if Kitty had more trust in Bartimaeus like Ptolemy had…

Kitty's eyes slid shut. She started to lean forward. It was already past midnight—and for the fifth time in a row—she had refused to sleep. She had stayed up five days straight, trying to find a way to summon Ptolemy. But so far, no good.

Kitty tried her hardest to stay awake, but it was no use. Sleep had a hard grip on her now, and she couldn't break free. Her eyes slid shut and wouldn't reopen. Kitty's body slammed against the pile of books around her on the table as her spirit left her for the dream world.

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**A/n **

**I know that's really short, but like I said before, times are tough. I'm lucky to have been able to have written this much. But the next chapter will be coming soon! And it's Bartimaeus!**


	8. VIII: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 8 **

**Bartimaeus **

Kitty was still asleep when a pigeon flew through her window and landed on the table. It was gone and soon replaced with the small Egyptian boy known as Ptolemy.

Ptolemy was dead silent. He looked down to the sleeping girl and rolled his eyes.(1) But then he noticed what book the girl was sleeping on. It was a biography of the actual Ptolemy. Underneath that was another book. I picked up the first book(2) and studied the writing. Hmm, looked like Ptolemy's handwriting. How a girl like Kitty got a book like this, I'll never know. I supposed this was Ptolemy's last surviving book.

But wait, why was Kitty reading this? What was she planning?

I got lost in the book(3) as I continued to read. I sat down on the floor, still reading.

Wow, this was really interesting. Ptolemy had written a very detailed biography about me. A sort of journal about me and the Other Place. Sorta flattering on my part. It went as follows:

_Bartimaeus—High level djinni. Being of fire and air. Capable of leveling mountains and falling trees with a single breath. Reliable, Witty, Cunning, Sharp Tongued, Sly, Trustworthy._(4)

This is where it started to get interesting. The rest of the book was like a daily journal. It had everything from when Ptolemy first summoned me to where he dismissed me last. _That _was what he was always writing!

I closed the book and looked at the cover. This was Ptolemy's alright. The same one he always wrote in. I thought this was destroyed long ago along with all of Ptolemy's other books. If it wasn't, it should be in pretty bad shape by now. What was it, three thousand years ago? Maybe some magician found it. But this book was gold covered. It was worth a lot of money. The papyrus used for paper should've floated down the Nile along with Ptolemy. However Kitty got this, she was treading in deep water. Something deeper then she could get out of if she got in too deep. Deeper then she could possibly control. Sort of like the bastard(5) did with the Amulet and the Golem.

Kitty started to stir in her sleep. "Bartimaeus," She said softly. I could tell she was still asleep.(6)

I put the book back down on the table and edged in closer to her. I was interested in what she had to say. "What?" I asked.

"You've got to help Nathaniel."

"I can't. He's already dead."

"No," Kitty moaned. She moved slightly. "Bartimaeus, you don't understand! You have to save him from Nouda!"

Ah. _That _was her problem. Nightmares about the past. About Nathaniel. About Nouda. But why? There was something from the past that was still haunting her. But what was it? Most likely the part when she watched Nathaniel die. He dismissed me before I could see him die.(7) I decided to try to pry more information out of her. "What am I supposed to do?"

"_Please _help him." She moaned. Must've been a pretty bad nightmare.

"But _what am I supposed to do_?" I prompted.

Kitty moaned again. Something in her dreams was causing her pain. She switched the dreams to something else. "What am I supposed to do, Bartimaeus?"

"You tell me." I sat down on the floor and got into scribe position. Perhaps I could get her to tell me what she was doing in my absence.

"I need your help, Bartimaeus."

I couldn't help but stand. "Why?" I edged closer to her. I was directly behind her now.

"If you ever want to see…" Her voice trailed off. As though she knew what she was about to say, and knew she didn't want me to know.

"See who?" Ptolemy rested his hand on her shoulder. Her natural resilience sending pricks on pain through my essence. That's when I got the vision.

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(1) If any of you were beings such as myself, who don't need sleep, you'd see why.

(2) If you think about it you'd know that I was slowly pulling it out from underneath Kitty. Bt don't think too hard! You might hurt yourself!

(3) No, I don't do that often. Yes, I can read and understand many languages. I don't read much these days. A being with the intelligence such as myself would find these books boring. But the one thing that made me continue reading it was the fact that Ptolemy wrote it.

(4) Wow. Didn't think Ptolemy thought that of me. Hmm, I say no more.

(5) Technically Nathaniel. But what's the difference?

(6) But of course, people like _you _wouldn't notice the difference at all.

(7) Damn. I would've _loved _to see the poor bastard die. Oh, and when I say poor, I take the term _very _lightly. It would've been funny, no matter how hard he was tortured.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**Well, this is my last chapter until September 2, 2006. Thanks for the reviews. And by the way, I won't be on the internet at all this summer. So don't bother contacting me. And here's where I answer everybody: **

**Anonymous: Thanks. I forgot how to spell the Book's name. I don't have a personal copy of the third book. **

**Musica Diabolos****Thanks for the review/reminder. I needed that. **

**Silver Silver: Hi! Thanks for all the reviews. **

**Oh, and sorry if I spelled Nouda wrong. Like I said before, I don't have the third book. I borrowed it from a friend. So, see ya in September!**


	9. IX: Jane Farrar

**Chapter 9**

**Jane Farrar**

Farrar paced in her stuy. Countless amounts of paperwork lay strewn around her study. Her desk--which was also covered in stacks and piles of papers. It was hardly visable--was placed inside one large penticle. The smaller ones--there were five of them--had scorch marks in them. They had been used many times in the past.

Farrar's study had no windows, vents, or anything else that could allow light into the room--with the execption of her door. The walls and ceiling were painted dark blue in color. The carpet was a slightly lighter shade. The desk had been situated in the far corner, opposite the doorway.

Farrar stopped pacing. Something didn't add up. How could Mr. Button have been murdered like that? The only possible creature that could do something like that was a werewolf. But all of her wolves had been checked and accounted for they night prior and after the attack. So what exactly killed Mr. Button? It couldn't have been an afrit or madrid. They would leave some sort of magical trail behind. There were no traces of magic left. It couldn't have been something very strong--there were little or no damages. So it couldn't have been a break-in, either. What creature could have possibly done this?

But wait, Kitty had said Mr. Button would summon demons to benifit himself. Hoever, later investigations of his body showed that he had a lame leg. How could he have bent down to draw the penticle--perfectly, as it was required--when one leg was missing from the knee down? He needed someone else to draw it for him.

Kitty was the only possible suspect. She was the only apprentince he had. But she couldn't draw a penticle. She was a commoner. Commoners were incapeable of drawing one correctly, right? Farrar had honestly never thought of such an event before. She couldn't possibly summon somthing, right? But if one could draw a penticle and learned the proper languages...Could Kitty summon a demon? Farrar shrugged off the subject. It was impossible. No commoner could summon an demon.

Farrar sighed and shook her head. Things just didn't add up. Never in her carrer as a magician or a Police Chief had she seen something like this. She had never heard of such a horrible crime. She had never come across a creature in her studies that was likely to kill in such as manner as this. The only creature strong-yet subtle enough-to do this was a werewolf. But the possibility had already been ruled out. All of her wolves had been acounted for that night.

Wait, what about a wolf-to-be? Had one of them lost control and gone on a frenzy, attacking Mr. Button? Farrar shook her head. All of them had been acounted for as well.

So that again led to the question. Who-or what-was responsible for killing Mr. Button? Farrar promised herself she'd figure it out. It was the most interesting case ever. She wouldn't let it go until it was solved and the criminal was locked away, tight. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

**There it is, chapter 9! And sooner then I promised! I feel so happy! And I'm sure my fans are, too! Oh, and if anyone seems interested, I wrote a OneShot, called I Never Understood Why. It's a sort of letter from Bartimeus to Ptolemy. Enjoy!**

**Oh yeah, and Bartimaues is next!**


	10. X: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 10**

**Bartimaeus**

Kitty gave a loud moan when I rested my hand on her shoulder.(1) My pupils widened to a huge size. My eyes felt as though they'd explode from the pressure. My 'blood' pounded in my ears.(2) I had to blink serveral times before the pain began to ebb away.

When the pain slowed, everything went black. Kitty's memories flashed in front of my eyes. I could see everything from when she was a child to just a few moments ago.

One of the first things I saw was the green monkey she used to complain about. The one that hit her and Jakob with the Black Tumbler. But there was one slight difference. I saw him on the seventh plane. He reminded me of Farqual. he was like a mixture of all forms he could take. Made me fell_very_ queazy.

Luckily for me, the scene changed to a picture of Kitty's master. I supposed it was Mr. Button. Yes, my stomach was_perfectly_ settled now.(3) His intestines were ripped out and used as a chocker. His scalp was ripped off anf the brains inside used to paint the walls. Almost all of his internal organs were gone. All execpt the heart, which was in perfect condition. It had been left along during the attack. Strange, very strange.

That was when I snapped back to reality. Light flodded in around me, and painfully flashed in my eyes. It caused my pupils to grow and shrink(4) painfully fast. My head pounded. I yelled out in pain(5) and fell back. Bells in my ears rang out loud. I couldn't concentraite. I glanced over to Kitty. She was still asleep, looking as if nothing had happened.(6) I forced my eyes closed and welcomed the ringing silence. ...

For a while I just sat there, gathering what I had seen. No djinni could have done that. Not unless they were specifically instructed to. But even then, no djinni would even murder a person that way. Any sane djinni would use some sort of magic.

Any sane djinni...

**Bartimaeus Ptolemy Kitty Nathaniel**

When I realized Kitty was waking, I opened my eyes and stood. Kitty moaned.

Ptolemy was replaced by a crow. The crow flew out the windwo and was soon out of sight.

**Bartimaeus Ptolemy Kitty Nathaniel**

(1) It was a moan born half of pain and half of sorrow. Different then most.

(2) I know that sounds confusing, see as djinn don't have blood. But let me rephrase that: My essance pounded in my ears. Actually, that doesn't sound all that great, either. And I have no pupils, technically. Well, whatever, just go with what I said.

(3) Note the sarcasam here. Didn't think you could tell.

(4) They were adjusting to the light, FYI.

(5) I don't do that often, but really, think about it. What would YOU have done? Probably cried. But that's normal for humans, isn't it?

(6) She did look a little drained, if anything.

**Bartimaeus Ptolemy Kitty Nathaniel **

**Well, there it is. I know it's short, but it helps the story move along...I think. The next chapter is Bartimaeus, and I think it's a little longer then this one. Oh well, at least it's something. **


	11. XI: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 11**

**Bartimaeus**

The change had relieved some of the pounding and ringing in my head. But it was still there, knawing at my paitentice. It would subside soon enough. I'd been through this before.(1) But until then, I might as well find something to do.

The crow landed in a dark, deserted alley and took the form of a woman.(2) The woman stealthily crept out of the alley. She fit in well with the rest of the commoners. No one gave her a second glance.(3)

Hmm, what should I do?

Kitty's overused figure and deathly dull aura flashed in my mind. She desperatly needed sleep and food. I could tell she had been neglecting both for a long period of time.

I don't mind doing favors for friends.

The woman stole into a bakery shop and made her order. 2 large cheeseburgers with everything on them, and 2 extra large mocha lattes. When the waiter had the bag filled with my order, I snatched it up and rn off before they could look up from the cash register.

I ran into a dark alley and took the form of the crow. I flew off back to Kitty's place.

**Bartimaeus Ptolemy Kitty Nathaniel **

I flew through Kitty's window and took the nessacary change to Ptolemy. He set the bag of goods on the windowsill and looked around.

Nothing had changed, really. Everything was in its proper place. Kitty was awake now. She was reading through her books and scribbling something down on paper. But there was, however, one major change, Kitty's aura was lucky if it lit off light an inch of her body. And it was diminishing slowly. She had no idea she was killing herself.(4)

I picked up the bag of food and brought it over to Kitty. I dropped the bag on a pile of books. Without looking up to me, Kitty spoke. "What's that?"

"Food and something to drink."

"Thanks, but I don't need it."

"More then you think."

Kitty sighed. "Bartimeaus, I--"

"Don't worry about me." I amswered as I down on the floor, scribe position. "I'm fine. But you...The summons are totally draining you of what lkittle energies you have left. You haven't eaten or slept in days. Your aura is barely visible anymore. You don't even have enough energy to work your won resilance! Kitty, you're killing yourself."(5)

"Fine," Kitty breathed. She looked up to me. "If you're_really_ that uptight about it, I'll eat something."

"_Thank_ you!"

Kitty relunctantly put her studies away and cleared the table.(6) She pulled out the contents of the bag one by one and set them on the table. She looked down to the food as though she loathed it.

"Kitty, you have to eat _something_."

"Why do you care?"

A heavy sigh. I looked away in thought. "I'll tell you after you eat."

"Kitty sniffed as the smells of the food below her drifted upwards. "Mmm," She said in delight. "'Bartimaeus, what's in these sandwhiches?"

"Cheeseburgers, actually. Grilled over a fire. Well done. Bones toasted slightly. Tomatos, lettuce, nustard, ketchup, onions, and extra pickles."

"How'd you know my favorite sandwhich?" Kitty asked as she began to unwrap one of the burgers(7).

Truth be told, I had picked up on a lot of things when Kitty gave me that_wonderful_ vision of her master. It was kind of like when Nathaniel and I fused together. Kitty had subconscienceously shared _everything _with me. I didn't answer.

Just as Kitty's mouth was over the burger and she was about to take a bite, I spoke. "You've been talking in your sleep. About Nouda. About Nathaniel."

Kitty stopped at Nathaniel's name. She was just about to take a bite too. She lowered the burger away from her mouth and set it on its wrapping. "Thanks Bartimaeus," She began softly. I could swear she was tearing. "but I'm not hungry. I'll save it for later."

"Kitty, you've got to let him go."

"I never had him!"

"Yes you did, or at least that's what you wanted. You didn't want him to die, did you?"

"Shut up!" Kitty shouted. "That's an order!"

Kitty rose to her feet. I did as well. Ptolemy was just her height. It was a perfect match-off. "You're never going to get over him if you keep it to yourself!"

"I was never under him!"

"Your years of the Resistance has hardened you. You're_afraid_ of showing emotions!"

"And what do _you _know about emotions? Your years of working for magicians has hardened you as well! You think you're too high and mighty and wise to care for anyone!

"Oh yes, _of course_! The terrible djinni _never _feels! He never has any emotion! Well guess what Kitty, we do, whether you like it or not!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

Kitty and I turned our backs on each other and sat down where we were standing. Our backs were resting on the other's. We were both riled, but for some reason, we didn't have our spirit into it.

I crossed my arms and folded my legs. I stared out in space, deep in thought. This was our first real fight since we met. Kitty had gone to the Other Place with me. She had summoned me before. I really thought we were closer then that. Close like Ptolemy and I used to be.

And worst of all, she knew my one weakness. Ptolemy.

My thoughts were broken when Kitty's resilance started counteracting my magic. The prickling feeling came back(8). I didn't mind it, though. I was too lost in thought to care.

I could feel Kitty move position. Only then did I feel her back begin to shudder.

**Bartimaeus Ptolemy Kitty Nathaniel **

(1) The same thing had happened once with Ptolemy. But then again, the vision I had with him wasn't HALF as gruesome.

(2) she was the same one I had mentioned before. The virgin in Rome, remember?

(3) Execpt for interested single men. If they came too close, I made sure to put them in their place.

(4) I've known (and served) magicians who literally dropped dead from lack of energy. Honestly, I didn't want to see the same thing happen to Kitty.

(5) I haven't felt this sort of affection for a human since Ptolemy. But they were so _similar_.

(6) She cleared it enough for room to eat. She didn't actually put the books away.

(7) They were individually wrapped. Didn't think you'd know.

(8) It felt as though a limb had fallen asleep and the blood came rushing back. It felt like ticklish pricks of pain.

**Bartimaeus Ptolemy Kitty Nathaniel **

**Well, there's chapter 11. Wow, 2 chapters in one day. I hope you guys are happy. Kitty's chapter is coming next**


	12. XII: Kitty

**Chapter 12**

**Kitty**

Kitty pulled her legs up close to her chest and buried her face in them. She held them tight with her arms, as if they were a childhood toy that would comfort her. The djinni's words rang in the back of her mind. _You're never going to get over him if you keep it to yourself. _And he was right. Is she continued to keep it to herself, it would soon overwelm her.

Kitty's eyes started to burn and blur with tears. Her back began to shudder with...sorrow and misery. For once since the incedent at the park, she was crying.

Bartimaeus' cool back was sort of comforting to her, in a sense. It felt like a dip in cold, refreshing water. Water that wasn't too cold, but just right.

Only when reality hit her did she let the tears flow.

"Kitty," The djinni began. "I'm sorry, but--"

"No. You're right. I need to stop dweling on the past."

"We all dwell on the past."

"I'm sure you don't."

"Actually...There was one. One person I was close to."

"Ptolemy?"

"Yes. The only person I've ever really cared for. The one person I was actually close to. But he was different, special."

Kitty saw her chance. Now that Bartimaeus was deep in the thoughts of his past, she could try to pry information out of him. The more she knew about his connection with Ptolemy, the better. "Why was that?"

"It never pays a djinni to get close to a human. I've learned the hard way."

"Why, what happened?"

Bartimaeus sighed. "It doesn't matter. Ptolemy died a long, long time ago." Kitty and Bartimaeus turned to face each other. Bartiameus continued on. "I suppose Ptolemy was the only human I've ever...loved. The only one I've ever cared for. But then everything just...spiraled. Ptolemy lost control."

Everything was begenning to sound familliar again. But, Kitty decided to re-gather the information. It had been five years since Bartimaeus had told her what happened with Ptolemy, back when she was in the Other Place with him. She was ignorant then, and she wasn't really listening. Just like Mr. Hopkins. She was listening to the words, not the speaker. Back then she didn't really pick up on what Bartimaeus was talking about. She was practically using his weaknesses so that he would agree to her plans. Now she could actually _get _the information. "He was a Pharaoh?"

"No. He was a cousin to the Pharaoh's son."

"How'd he loose control? What happened?"

"All he wanted was to be a scholar. Nothing famous. He wanted to write _at least _one book. One sucessful book that everyone knew about. One that everyone owned a copy of. One about the Other Place. That way people could follow in his footsteps and go to it. Then people and djinn would be united. Together. No more slavery. And I wanted him to suceed. But he never did. Most of his works were destroyed when he died. He never wanted to be king or be known all around the world. He just wanted djinn and people do be united. No differences. No slavery. No nothing. I really was hoping he'd suceed. But he failed.

"He was the first to come to the Other Place, and the last. Besides you. No other magician--or commoner for that matter--was brave enough to venture to the Other Place. Ptolemy usually summoned me to ask about the Other Place. Always asking questions. He asked so many questions in the Other Place, that when he returned, his body was practically useless. Far worse off then you were. He wasted his time asking questions. He didn't know it'd be the death of him. When he first summoned me, he asked about every aspect of the Other Place and such. I was a little surprised. You wouldn't normally expect a _magician _to ask about you or the place you came from. See, I was about two--maybe three-thousand years old. For us djinn, that;s not very old.

"I really wasn't ready for him.

"Naturally, I was taken off-guard when he asked me all these odd questions. At first all my answers were lies. But then the two of us grew on each other, and we struck a friendship. Ptolemy made the gate to the Other Place _because of me._ If we hadn't met, it wouldn't exist at all. You can see what an honor that was.

:"But then, one day, Ptolemy had me save a little girl from a rouge bull. Rumors started to spread.

"People started to say that Ptolemy was a magician that conversed with 'demons'. The rumors spread to the King's son, and things went downhill from there. There were attempted asasignatiations, and things started to get even worse.

"One day, when we were at the Spice Market--That was his favorite place--another assingation was attempted. I became a lion and stole up Ptolemy. We took to the sky, flew as fast as we could. But my mane was too fluffy. I didn't see the enemy djinni coming from the side. It hit me dead on. I was injured, couldn't fly.

"We landed in some temple. I barricated the doorways and set Ptolemy down. He was coughing up blood. I knew from there things weren't going to end well. I told him I could defeat the enemy djinn and we could escape to another place. Ptolemy rejected. And why? _Because the fucking library was there_! He refused to leave. All because of the fucking _library_."

Bsrtimaeus ended, sighed. "There's just as much bad talk is there is good." He stopped for the final time. His eyes filled with actual tears. Real tears. Tears of his essence, anyway. But close enough. Kitty knew better then to prompt him any further.

"Well," She said finally. "perhaps you'll see him again."

Bartimaeus was silent, lost in his memories and thoughts.

Kitty stood and sat down at the table. With Bartimaeus' words in mind, she reopened her food and began to eat.

**Bartimaeus Ptolemy Kitty Nathaniel **

**Well, there it is. The miracle chapter that shows a little fluffier side of Bartimaeus. I hoped it's OK, at least. I know I spelled assaingation wrong, but no spell check. Sorry. There will be soon! Review and I'll give you all a BARTIMAEUS plushie! YAY BARTIMAEUS! Or maybe Ptolemy...Anyway, next chapter is Kitty, again...It's short...But it helps the story along. **

**And if any of you out there like Invader Zim OneShots and such, you should read Sanishal's three stories: Rain Storm, Obsessed, & Motherly Advice. She's done a really good job and she deserves praise. Check it out!**


	13. XIII: Kitty

**Chapter 13 **

**Kitty **

As Kitty wolfed down on the food Bartimaeus supplied her, she started to think about what he had said.

_There is just enough bad talk as there is good._

No matter how hard she tried, Kitty couldn't get the djinni's words out of her mind. Bartimaeus was right in so many ways. Wisdom born of a long life. Most everything he said was pure knowledge.

_There is just enough bad talk as there is good._

Kitty found that she had left herself in mid-bite as she thought.

"Don't like the sandwhich?" Kitty looked up to see a midnight black cat with emerald green eyes looking back at her. It was…spell binding, in a sense. It was hard to explain.

"Cute guise."

"Didn't answer the question," The cat prompted. It stopped, licked its paw, the rubbed its head with the same paw. It acted the same way all cats would.

"Yes, I like the sandwhich. I was just thinking."

"What is it that you do here when I'm gone?"

Kitty gestured to her books. "Research." She answered simply.

"What is it that you reaserch?"

Kitty hesitated. She could somehow _feel _Bartimaeus' thoughts. Her reslience, perhaps? She shook the thought out of her mind and answered, "Mainly djinn. Summons. Stuff like that."

"Do you know? Hmm…" His voice drifted off in thought. Kitty got that worried sensation again. She could somehow feel Bartimaeus as he thought. It made her feel uncomfortable; confined, trapped, small. As though she was being watched but couldn't tell by who.

Thanks to this odd new sensation, Kitty could tell Bartimaeus hadn't a clue about what she was planning. She could see it in his eyes. He was thinking on all his conscious planes, searching for a reasonable answer. But he couldn't find one. Her secret was safe. Bartimaeus couldn't come up with an explination to what she was doing.

Kitty had a five thousand year old djinni stumped.

Kitty took another bite of her sandwhich, satisfied with herself. She smiled and looked off to the distance, her head slightly cocked, chewing slowly and thinking about what would happen in the future.

Bartimaeus was silent while Kitty finished her sandwhich. She moved to one of the cups, opened it, and drank. It was her favorite type of coffee; a mocha latte with extra whipped cream. Kitty smiled in delight and forced the cup away from her mouth.

Kitty wiped the extra liquid off her mouth. "Mmm. Bartimaeus, this coffee is awesome! How'd you know my favorite?"

"I have my ways," The djinni answered; his voice hollow. He was still deep in thought. Kitty could feel herself smiling again. She was out-witting a five thousand year old djinni. One that had seen many empires fall and delt with many masters. The matter was simply amazing to her.

"Well, thank you. I didn't realize how hungry of thirsty I was until you showed me."

Bartimaeus blinked and looked her in the eyes. "Your aura looks a little better."

Kitty nodded. "I feel a little better, too. But, anyway," Kitty looked over to her books and sighed. "I've still got a lot more work to do."

"You should take a break every now and again. It does better for you then you think. And the summons are wearing you down."

"I'm fine. You seem tired yourself. Do you want me to dismiss you?"

"It's nothing, really. I can handle a few days. I just need to clear my head."

"But you _have_ been here for a day or two now."

"The bastard tied me to Earth for two _years. _I think I can handle two days."

To Kitty's surprise, she laughed. Bartimaeus just smiled. It was a cunning—sort of sailor styled—smile. It gave her a sensation that she wasn't alone in the world. "Well," She began. "just tell me when you want to go home. Doesn't bother me if you do."

Bartimaeus nodded and looked around for a moment, as though he was nervous and stalling from something; keeping something from her. "Kitty," He said finally. But then his voice drifted. "Where did your master live? I don't know where his house is."

Kitty could tell that wasn't what he originally planned to ask. She could sense that he had wanted to ask her something else, perhaps tell her something. But he hadn't. Why, she wasn't exactly sure. She could feel he wanted to tell her something, as though the two were connected. But nonetheless, she decided to tell him.

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**Well, there's chapter…13, right? I don't number my chapters in my notebooks. But whatever. Bartimaeus is next!**


	14. XIV: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 14**

**Bartimaeus **

The kitten took the form of a crow and flew out the window. It was quite dark outside. All of the figures merged into one.(1)

I was feeling _much _better. There was no more pounding in my head; I could act, react, and think as fast as usual. I was no longer tied down. I was feeling better to the point where I almost forgot about the summoning pain.

I was happier, too. Kitty had eaten the food I had supplied her.(2) Her aura was looking better, too.

But one thing was still eating at me. What was she planning? She was up to something, but I couldn't figure out what. It seemed she was somehow mentally and physically blocking me from figuring it out. Yes, I had seen all of her memories, but she had somehow knew that I was intruding on her; she had subconciously disabled her plots from being viewed.

She was planning something big.

And another thing: why did she want to know so much about Ptolemy? She had me stumped.(3)

Oh well.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

As the crow finally located the estate that Kitty had described as Mr. Button's place, it landed on the roof and checked out its surroundings. This area of town was…crowded, to say the least. Houses were cramped together in an uncomfortable fashion. There was just enough space between them to hang up a line of clothes. One house was differnet, though. It seemed to belong to someone far wealthier; and that was the house of Mr. Button.

All of the cramped houses fit into a circle which circled the complex of Mr. Button's place.

Well, on the upside, he had a nice view from the roof.

I hesitated. Something strong was pulsating through the house.(4) Going inside _could _risk my life. And I didn't have to go in if I didn't want to. Kitty hadn't given me an exact charge. She just summoned me. So, in theroy, I could do whatever I wanted.(5)

Relunctantly, the crow broke into the house and flew inside.

I took the form of Ptolemy and looked around. Whatever had been pulsating had either fled or dissapeared.(6) Interesting. So, any magical _creature _was out of the question. And an object couldn't move. Someone—or something—moved it when I broke in.(7)

The house was fairly empty; save for the thousands and thousands of books laying strewn around the place like garbage. This place was like the Britan Library, but messier. The books covered _everything_.(8)

Ptolemy stepped over one mess of books, only to fall over another.(9) The one book I sent flying flew back to me and almost hit me square in the face. I grabbed it inches before it could.

I sat upright and studied the book. Another interesting point. This was a book of djinniology.(10) And it was of value. A book like this should've been in the government's hands.(11) Hmm, so many odities. So the question was: Who was planning to do what?

A loud thud from another room ajacent to this.

I sprang to my feet.

Another loud noise.

Whatever was there seemed potent. I took the book, made the nessecary change to a bird, and flew off back to Kitty. She'd probably find this more interesting then I would.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

(1) For humans. For me, everything was clear as day. Thanks to the second and third planes.

(2) Relunctantly, though. I could tell by her body _and _voice that she didn't want to. She ate everything when she tried it, though. Which upped her aura a little. But it wouldn't be back to its normal status for a while. First thing she had to do was learn how to sleep and rest again.

(3) And that didn't occur often. Seeing as I'm over five thousand years and I think on several conscious planes.

(4) Something magical. Now, should I call this place a house or a mansion?

(5) There's that fake freedom shining through. There were many ways I was still trapped here, but there were also many ways I wasn't. In all technicality, I was still confinded within a penticle.

(6) And this is highly unlikely. Most thing that pulsate so strongly would be something like Gladstone's staff. It couldn't have been a djinni of any kind, either. We stand our ground and fight…With the usual execption of myself.

(7) And _now _you see why I don't like break-ins.

(8) Literally. Someone had been rushing through the books in quite a rush. Again, interesting.

(9) No, I don't do that very often. Not unless I'm not focused on what I'm doing. That's clumsiness for you. You people should now that better then I do; you experience it more often.

(10) Although I think Mr. Button was a magician. But I'm not quite sure about that yet; I don't know enough to make the verdict.

(11) Not that I liked the idea. No, I'm not picking sides. Maybe this book had at one time belonged to the government. Maybe Kitty stole it at one point. If she did, good find Kitty.

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**So, was that okay? I hope it was alright. I made some major changes to this one; my notebook has at least three more pages on this chapter. But I decided that what was in my notebook was pretty stupid, so I edited it out. **

**Oh, and one more thing, I'd like to thank the following people for reviewing(This is everyone): _E.C. Florek, Drop Your Oboe, HPLB, BlackRosePoison-Orchid, black rosey_(anonymous)_, HappeeGoLuckee, Musica Diabolos, silver silver, Anonymous, gnome leader, Coruscate Corruption, Sanishal. _Thanks to all for having faith in me! You all get…um…another chapter by me! Yeah, that's it! **


	15. XV: Kitty

**Chapter 15**

**Kitty **

Bartimaeus returned when dawn was approaching, and still Kitty was awake. She had trained herself to need less sleep. She got 24 or 28 hours a week if she was overworking herself and needed extra sleep.

Kitty wearily lifted her head and looked up to the Egyptian boy, Ptolemy. "Hi Bartimaeus," She said with a yawn.

Bartimaeus revealed a leather bound book and handed it to her. She took it and studied it with interest. She looked up to Bartimaeus. "Where'd you get this, Bartimaeus? It looks just like the one Mr. Button had…" Her voice drifted off in thought as she continued to search and ponder the book.

"Good observation skills," Bartimaeus answered, somewhat sarcastically. "I found it at Mr. Button's place. I was going to explore a little more, but I heard some loud noises and decided it was safer to leave."

Kitty nodded, dismissed what Bartimaeus had said, and continued to look down at the book. It was one of the best-conditioned _Acrophya _copies she had ever seen. She was so amazed by it she didn't know what to say or do.

She had never seen this at Mr. Button's place before.

Kitty looked back to Bartimaeus. He had a proud look to his face. "Bartimaeus," Kitty began. "I'm going to dismiss you for a while. I need some time alond to think and rest."

Bartimaeus nodded. It seemed he knew what she did; as though he could feel the strange, odd feeling she could, too. Maybe there _was _something between them…

Kitty broke through her thoughts and began the dismissal incantations. Bartimaeus was gone in an instant.

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Kitty sighed. She had already come up with a penticle that _might _work when summoning a human spirit, but she couldn't be sure. From when she had gathered in her reasearch, what she had planned was adiquite. Perhaps it would work.

She'd have to try it out.

Kitty drew a penticle that she hoped would work when summoning a human spirit. It was made up of three shapes: A heart, triangle, and circle. The top of the triangle met the curved point of the heart and overlapped it. The new shape was contained within a perfect circle.

Kitty called the penticle the Heart Penticle.

According to her studies, Kitty had to say the name after she ahd said the incantations, which was latin backwards. She had been practicing the incantations long before she had summoned Bartimaeus.

Kitty took a deep breath. She had decided to summon Jakob's grandmama first. She couldn't think of anyone else.

Kitty began the incantations.

She clamped her mouth shut wen she finished. She didn't want to make a crucial mistake; even a breath out of line could destroy the summons.

Swirls of silver smoke came from nowhere and gathered inside the penticle Kitty had drawn. They bundled together and began to take the shape of a human being. It was a ball at first, which steadilly grew larger to the shape of a human.

Kitty squealed in excitement. But when she did, the silver strands stopped and began to flee, as though afraid. "No!" Kitty yelled. "Come back!" But the streams ignored her. They were soon gone.

"Damn," Kitty cursed to herself as she stepped out of the penticle. She was so close to success she could tast the victory. It pained her to see her almost-victory fail as it did.

Spirit summons were worse then djinn summons. She felt as though she'd faint from the exaustion. It was too dangerous to try again.

Kitty collasped on her bed. When she awoke, she would eat, and again summon Bartimaeus.

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**Well, there's the chapter. Thanks to Sanishal for reviewing. But she's right, my chapters _are _too short! But, I'll see what I can do to leangthen them a bit, but I make no promises. Anyway, Jane Farrar Is next…Hmm…The bitch…**


	16. XVI: Jane Farrar

**Chapter 16 **

**Jane Farrar**

There was one rule: Eat and feed the hunger.

This rule, of course, was the rule of the werewolves.

Farrar had tried her best to resist it, to remain human. But the time was fast approaching that she would have to make her first kill. Her dreams were getting worse, more violent, more real.

Her latest dream was very recent. It had happened the night before Mr. Button's body was found. She had dreampt that she went to a person's—a magician's—house and told him she was with the government. The magician aloowed her in and offered her tea and cake. Farrar declined and said, "No, thank you. My hunger will be satisfied shortly."

Farrar's eyes shot open. She bolted upright in her bed. The one night she decided to get a little sleep, and she was plagued with nightmares. _Ones that could never happen. _She told herself. She wasn't ready to accept that she was a werewolf.

Farrar looked around. Her bedsheets were dreanched in sweat, and most of the sheets were on the floor. She was still sweating slightly, and the taste of blood swam in her mouth. Her face was caked with it.

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Farrar was reflecting on that night while chewing her pencil. It was a new technique she found that kept the hunger at bay. It was fooling her system. She had already chewed her way through 48 pencils in the last four hours. She was like a human sized termite.

Someone cast a shadow over her. Farrar looked up to the source and rolled her eyes. "What do _you _want?"

It was just one of her demons, Barloa. He was wearing the quise of a Greyback policeman and had dangerous—almost beastly—yellow eyes. He was holding a parcel wrapped in tinfoil. "Thought you might need this." He said as he droped the parcel on Farrar's desk.

"What is it?" But she already knew, her wolf sense of smell telling her. It was raw meat. Cow meat. Presumably from a middle-aged bull. Low on fat, seasoned ever-so-slightly.

"Food."

Farrar remained silent, thinking of something to say that made her seem human. "Hmph, must be poisoned."

Barloa rolled his eyes. "You want to control the hunger, right?" Farrar stayed silent. "Eat it."

"How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You're part werewolf, iddiot. You could smell the poisons or dieseases."

"You know full well I don't want to use my skills! Doing so will push it further!"

Barloa crossed his arms and rolled his arms. "Whatever." And with that, he left the room.

Farrar looked down to the parcel, the hunger welling in her mouth and the pit of her stomach. She was debating whether or not she should eat it. Eating it would encourage the hunger. The smell lingered around her nose.

Farrar's instincts got the better of her. She put her pencil down and unwrapped the meat. It stared back at her. Raw, fresh. Just as her senses told her. The blood still oozed from its veins. Farrar's mouth watered,. She hungrilly picked up the meat and savagely tore into it.

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The meat was gone in a matter of minutes. Farrar's…_condition _was getting worse. She couldn't satisfy the hunger anymore. It was like her stomach as a black pit that went on forever and never filled. Barloa was wrong. It had made the hunger worse. _The damn demon, _She thought to herself. _He knew this was going to happen to me. And once it does, he's free to go back to the Other Place. He's already got the choice to listen to my commands or not. _

Farrar cleaned herself up and cleaned away the mess on her desk. "I can't eat meat anymore," She said to herself. "I already promised myself I'd stop." Farrar sat back at her desk and began to ponder the Button case again.

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**I seriously have no idea where exactly this plotline is going. But, at least it's moving. (Knock on wood) Next chapter is Bartimaeus. Yay Bartimaeus! **


	17. XVII: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 17**

**Bartimaeus **

Well, I was used to this. Dismissed just a few hours ago, summoned again. I guessed it was Kitty.(1) So, both glumily and relunctantly, I took the form of the Bastard.(2)

As I'd expected, Kitty was looking back at me, her eyes wide with regret and sorrow. "Bartimaeus," She said as she looked away, balled her fists, and held back tears. "change that stupid guise." I didn't reply. "Change it!" I still did not reply. She was never going to get over him if she didn't face it. And I was going to help her. Easy way or hard way. Whichever she preferred.

"You know why I took Nathaniel's form."

Kitty whined.She was about to burst into tears. "Well, at least don't do his voice so well!"

"Trust me, it pains me as much as it does you."(3)

"Bartimaeus," She whined. "Please stop!" The tears began to flow.(4) "I'm not ready for this!" I knew my place and reverted to Ptolemy's form.

"It's alright. I won't do it anymore."

Kitty fell to the ground on her knees, buried her face in her hands, shook in something like rage or sorrow. I didn't know Kitty felt that way about Nathaniel. Only a few days ago she was laughing about the nickname I had given him. Could that have been false humor? In all honsety, I didn't know.(5) "Kitty, I—"

Kitty held her hand out, signaling silence. I obeyed. I didn't want to hurt her anymore, anyway. "Shut up, demon. I don't care about what you have to say."

Ooh, she was_ pissed. _She hadn't called me a demon since the first time we spoke. And she _never _said she didn't care about what I had to say. She was like Ptolemy, always knowing that I had something to say and wanting me to say it.

All was silent for a moment. Kitty recollected herself and stood. For the first time since Ptolemy, I felt incredibly small.(6)

Kitty stared me in the eyes. I tried to do the same, but found that I couldn't. Kitty had a fire burning in her eyes. A fire of pure anger. Her aura was one big ball of fire. It made it look like she was tapped in a ring of fire.

But there was a difference to the flames. They were blue; weighed down by depression and regret. I guessed that Kitty was feeling too many emotions to place.

For a long moment, Kitty just stood there, staring at me. Her fists were balled and she hand an angry look on her face. But just below that anger there was regret and depression. I could read her like a book.(7)

"Bartimaeus," She began softly. Her voice was still trembeling. "I need you to go back to Mr. Button's house and try to figure out who or what killed him. And I need you to bring back all the books he had on Ptolemy. Anything that includes Ptolemy, bring it."

I couldn't respond. Kitty had told me to shut up when in the penticle. I couldn't speak. Kitty seemed to pick up on this. "You can talk now."

"Good. Kitty—"

"Just go."

The first dismissal. My bowels began to turn. I left without another word.

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(1) Who else would it be?

(2) Nathaniel. But what's the difference? And no, I didn't want to take his form, but Kitty needed a wake up call.

(3) But in different ways. Taking Nathaniel's form made me physically sick. And the sound of his voice was even worse.

(4) Not many tears, though. Just a few drops. Kitty never was a cryer.

(5) I don't know what fuels humands and care even less. The only emotion I could sense was anger, and I was usually the one to cause that anger.

(6) Like I was inclined to use the apropriate words.

(7) All humans are like that, no matter who. Even Ptolemy was like that.

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**Hmm, plotline still muddled. Oh well. It'll show up eventually. Suggestions welcome! **


	18. XVIII: Kitty

**Chapter 18 **

**Kitty **

Kitty ran to her Heart Penticle and began the incantations. But instead of Jakob's grandmama, she decided to summon Nathaniel. Bartimaeus was right; she would never get over him if she didn't try.

She got the same results as last time, but this time, she made no noise whatsoever. She even went so far as to hold her breath.

After what seemed like an hour, the silver strands of human essence finished their task. Nathaniel was finished. His grey eyes scanned Kitty and her room. Kitty was almost to the point of tears before he spoke. "Kitty," He said softly.

Kitty nodded. "I summoned you."

"But how? Surely it's impossible."

"Look below your feet." Nathaniel looked. "I've invented a new type of penticle. It summons _humans _instead of djinn."

"But you're not a magician. How could you have possibly—?"

"I've summoned Bartimaeus too. On my own. Took three years, but—"

"Incredible! How did you _ever _accomplish this?"

"Determination and some help."

"Who helped you?"

"A minor by the name of Mr. Harold Button. He supplied the books. But, he died a few days ago."

"Wow, Kitty," Nathaniel breathed. "That's incredible." Nathaniel looked back to her. His eyes furrowed. "Why did you call me here, anyway?" He stopped for a moment and studied her. "Why are you tearing?"

Kitty closed her eyes for a moment, reopened them. "Bartimaeus says the best way to get over something is to face it."

Nathaniel looked genuinely confused. "But what is it that you're—Ah. You saw me die, didn't you?"

Kitty stayed silent. She didn't know what to say. She nodded instead.

"But I thought you didn't care about me." Nathaniel said, almost playfully.

Kitty looked into his eyes. Tears began to well again in her own.

"But you never cared about me, right?"

Kitty stayed silent for a moment. "Why do you think I saved you from Fred and Stanley? Why do you think I returned your Scrying Glass? Why do you think I saved you from the Golem?" Nathaniel remained silent. Kitty could tell from the look on his face that he was trying to find the right words to say, but couldn't find them. "Look, Nathaniel, the only reason I called you here was to tell you something." Kitty stopped and waited for him to reply. When he didn't, she continued on. "I needed to tell you that…I think I loved you."

Nathaniel looked into Kitty's eyes, gave a warm smile. "I think I did too. But let's promise to get over it." He shrugged. "I'm dead now, anwayway. So it'd be better to move on."

Kitty smiled. She thought it was forced, though. Nathaniel's last comment had stung, although she knew he was right. Bartimaeus was right, too. She wasn't trying to get over the past, mainly because she didn't want to. It felt as though a weight had been lifted off her shoulders, but dropped back on her, squishing the life out of her. She was feeling many things at the moment, but the strongest was rejection. Somewhere, she had been rejected. She had expected Nathaniel to do…well, _something _different from what he had done. It nearly broke her heart. Kitty forced herself to speak. "It was good to see you again."

"I'll see you again."

The thought of dying made Kitty woozy. She nodded and began the incantations. She didn't want to hear anymore from him. Bartimaeus was right; Nathaniel was a bastard. Even with love. He was a bastard at everything. Kitty slightly shook her head. _Too bad you're in heaven, bastard. You don't deserve it. _She thought to herself. Nathaniel divided into the silver streams and dissapeared.

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**Ha, look at that! NatKitty, but with a special twist at the end! I like it! Tell me what you think. Next chapter is Kitty. And she does something special while Bartimaeus is out. 00, OO ooooh. **


	19. XIX: Kitty

**Chapter 19 **

**Kitty **

As soon as Nathaniel departed, Kitty began the incantations for summoning Ptolemy. But he wasn't as easy. Almost all of the Pharaohs of his time had the name of Ptolemy. So at the end, Kitty added a bit. "Ptolemaeus of Alexandria, friend of Bartimaeus, visitor of the Other Place." Her efforts seemed to have the desired effect. Trails of human essence came as before, but they were gold. _Perhaps it's because Ptolemy's an older spirit. _Kitty thought to herself.

Kitty waited silently and paitently. Eventually, the streams of essence completed their task. A small, dark-skinned boy with deep green eyes in a loincloth formed in the penticle, seated, scribe position. Kitty sat down as well. The boy was looking around, as though interested. "_That's it_."

"What's it?"

"_God_," She whispered. She found herself leaning in closer to the boy. Bartimaeus had mirrored the boy perfectly. "It's perfect," She was still whispering. "Right down to the two—" Kitty stopped herself and shook her head. She leaned back into her normal sitting position. "I'm sorry," she began. "I'm being rude. My name's Kitty. Kitty Jones."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Kitty. I'm Ptolemaeus. But if it's alright with you, I prefer Ptolemy." Ptolemy looked around. "Where are we? This place certainly isn't Egypt."

"This is London. London, England." Ptolemy grew a blank look on his face. Kitty noticed and tried to improvise. "Um, Europe? No? Er…Holy Roman Empire?"

Ptolemy nodded. "I think I know where I am now. Thanks."

A different voice cut between the two of them from the windowsill. "You are _so _lucky these are Ptolemy's books. If they weren't, I wouldn't have gotten them all! Do you realize that it took me about an hour just to find all the books? Then I had to fly back here without dropping them, and _that _took another hour…" The voice drifted off into an angry grumble A copy of Ptolemy made itself known and dropped the books onto the tablewith the others. When he saw Ptolemy, he stopped dead. Kitty and Ptolemy stood. "Who's that?" Bartimaeus motioned to Ptolemy, clenched his fists, got into a fighting stance.

"Ptolemy," Kitty answered simply.

"Impossible! He's long gone!" Bartimaeus fired a Compression at Ptolemy. Ptolemy waved his hand, muttered a few words. Bartimaeus' attack rebounded back on him. Black bands wrapped around Bartimaeus and squeezed him tightly. "Call it off! Call it off! Call it off!" Each time he said this, the Compression got tighter, making his voice sqeakier.

Ptolemy uttered a single word. The Compression bonds lifted and swiveled away into nothing. "Sorry I had to do that."

Bartimaeus stared into Ptolemy's eyes. "It can't be you," He whispered in disbeleif. He shook his head. "It's impossible."

Kitty smiled. "Anything is possible. Haven't I proved that to you already?"

Bartimaeus looked over to Kitty and shook his head. He turned to Ptolemy. "Is it really you?"

Ptolemy nodded. "Ms. Jones brought me here."

Bartimaeus' mouth was wide open. Is that what you've been working on? The new penticle you've been designing?" Kitty nodded. "I don't know what—" Bartimaeus cut himself off. "Did you hear that?" He was whispering, almost too quiet to hear.

The three were silent for a moment. Kitty spoke first. "I don't hear anything." She was whispering, too.

"Scratching off somewhere in the distance. Dog panting. Wolf howl. Werewolf."

"Then we have to leave."

"But what about the books?" Ptolemy broke in.

"Bartimaeus," Kitty gasped. "he's right! We need the books!" She was speaking a little loud, if not frantically.

"What are you talking about?" Bartimaeus was the same way. He obviously didn't want to be caught up with a werewolf. Kitty didn't blame him. He looked around and groaned in wary dispair. A long, cold, shrill wolf howl was heard off in the -not-so-distant distance. "_Fine_. But get the books that are the _most important_."

Kitty grabbed her bookbag, emptied it of its current contents, started to refill it with all of Ptolemy's works and biographies.

"What about the others?" Ptolemy asked her. Kitty started a little. She hadn't noticed Ptolemy was next to her the entire time.

"Those aren't important. Yours are."

"I'm flattered, really."

"No time to be flattered," Bartimaeus interjected. "Hurry up! It's getting closer!" Bartimaeus changed from Ptolemy's from to the one of a giant Roc. "C'mon! We have to go, now!"

Another howl. It was closer. Bartimaeus scooped up Ptolemy and Kitty—despite their shouts and pleas—and said as he flew away, "I don't usually do this, but desperate times call for desperate measures." He bursted his way through the side of Kitty's 'apartment'.

The werewolf looked up to them, sat where it was, gave a loud, deafening, howl.

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**Yay! Kitty suceeded! Duh! Any guess who the werewolf is? I'll give you one guess. Oh, and _HappeeGoLuckee_, yes, Kitty suceeded. Bartimaeus figures everything out on his own accord, and I'm not exactly sure if Farrar killed Mr. Button. Sad, isn't it? I don't even know where my own plotline is going. Yes, very sad. But, at least it's going _somewhere. _I'll get it all sorted out in time. Thanks to everyone for reviewing!**


	20. XX: Jane Farrar

**Chapter 20**

**Jane Farrar**

The raw meat had set off part of the werewolf in Farrar. It had taken about three hours for it to kick in, but when it did, she couldn't control it. The hunger was eating away at her, telling her to eat or be eaten. And she had no choice but to cave in to her temptations. She allowed the werewolf to take over completely. That was where her memory fadded her.

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Truth be told, the werewolf part of her had forced Farrar to claim another person. A middle-aged gentelman. He had blonde hair and brown eyes, and was plump around the waist. He had no family, and was a commoner. He was of no importance to anyone.

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Farrar bolted upright in her bed. She was the same way as before, naked, sweating, blood in her mouth and all over her face.

Farrar found that she was panting slightly. _What a horrible nightmare. _She thought to herself. It was a nightmare, right? Of course it was. What else could it be? Farrar pushed the silly thought out of her mind and went to take a shower.

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By the time she was out of the shower, fully dressed, and ready for her day, the hunger was back, stronger then ever. A knock at the door. "What do you want?" Farrar's paitence was thin. She wasn't going to deal with any shit.

"Ma'am, another citizen has been murdered. Last night, if looks are anything to go by. Same way as Button."

Farrar opened the door to her room. "What? Are you sure?"

"Yes."

_My dream, _Farrar thought to herself. She shook the thought out of her mind. _A mere coincidence. _She told herself. "Send down my best wolves and djinn. I have something else to attend to."

"Which is?"

"Play detective." She answered as she pushed past her secretary. She left the house quickly.

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**I know that's a short chapter, but it's 1 AM. No time for details. Besides, I need to get the story moving. 'Silly'. I HATE THAT WORD!**


	21. XXI: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 21**

**Bartimaeus **

The Roc flew high into the air, to avoid watching eyes. The howls were getting louder, more desperate. Death was on the warpath. "Where do we go?" I boomed.

"My parent's place!" Kitty yelled back.

"Where is it?" Kitty guided me to her former home. All the while, the howels were dying away. Whatever was on the rampage had gotten what it wanted. We were safe—for now. All the same, I could help but feel worried. With Ptolemy summoned and Kitty weaker, either one of them were exposed—prone—to danger. I didn't want them to get hurt.(1)

We landed in front of Kitty's former house. The lights were still on. "Thank goodness," Kitty started. "they're still up." She turned to me. "You might wanna change your guize or something. Just a suggestion." She was right. Entering a commoner's house in the form of a two ton giant fluffy bird might scare them, just a little. I nodded. The Roc dissapeared and took the shape of a midnight black cat with dark sea green eyes. Ptolemy's eyes. It was once his pet, too. He named it Anubis.(2) Don't ask why he gave a cat the name of a god with the head of a dog. Just one of his old ways. My fur glistened in the moonlight.

Kitty knocked on the door of her parent's house. Everything was silent for a moment. But then a dark appeared. It was a female shape, a woman wearing an apron. Kitty's mother, perhaps. The figure hesitated for a moment, then—somewhat relunctantly—opened the door. I was right. The figure was a woman. She looked just like Kitty.(3) "Kathleen!" She squealed as she hapilly hugged Kitty as tight as she could.

"Hi mom," Kitty managed. Her breath was strained, she used every last bit of air she had to speak. So, her mother had a strong grip. "Can my friend and I stay here for a while?"

Her mother backed off her immediately after Kitty said this and studied Ptolemy and myself. After about five seconds, she said, "Of course! Come in, come in!" With that she ushered the three of us inside.

Much to my surprise, Ptolemy picked me up and held me close as he walked inside. It was as though he was afraid of something and I was his only protection. But what was there for him to be afraid of? Well, this _was _his first time alive and on his own feet in a while…I guess I wouldn't blame him.

Kitty's mother called to someone. "Alfred! Come down here! We have guests!" She turned to Kitty. "So, who's your friend?"

"Oh, he's uh…" Kitty turned to the two of us. She bit her lip and turned back to her mother. "Nathaniel." The cat had to fight back the urge to hiss. The mere thought of him made me sick. Bastard.(4)

A man walked into the room. He had Kitty's aura. Strong, vigalent, independant. It looked exactly like hers before she went to the Other Place. Wow, Kitty really took from her parents, no matter what it was. "Who is it, Iris?" His eyes met Kitty. "Oh, hello Kitty."

Kitty nodded. "Dad."

"So," Iris started. "can I get you two anything?"

Kitty turned to Ptolemy. He shook his head. She turned back to Iris. "No thanks mom. We're fine. We'll be in my room, okay?" Iris and Alfred remained silent and let Kitty show Ptolemy to her room. Alfred and Iris went to their original buisness when Kitty and Ptolemy mounted the stairs.

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Kitty's room was nothing special, but it would do. It was pretty much blank with a window, desk, dresser, and bed. Again, nothing special. But then again, beggers can't be choosers. As soon as the door was closed, I jumped out of Ptolemy's arms and took his form.(5)

Kitty looked around. "Wow, this place hasn't changed a bit. We can manage here a while."

"And what was that bit about Nathaniel? Almost made me sick."(6) I added in, scrunching up Ptolemy's face in disgust.

"It was the first name to come to mind."

"Yeah, well…You insulted Ptolemy!"

"Don't bring Ptolemy into this! You know very well you liked Nathaniel at some point! You never would've agreed to fusing into his body if you didn't!"

"_I _agreed into fusing into his wretched little body because _you _found my one weak spot! _You _brought Ptolemy into it!"

"I was _trying _to do the better thing for all humanity! It was that or the world was destroyed! I had to do _something_!"

I was silent for a moment, thinking of a good comeback. I folded my arms. "I never _said _I wanted to do it."

"Of course! You only agreed because it was _my _idea! Because I went to the Other Place with you!"

As wont of Ptolemy, his eyes glittered at the mention of the Other Place. In a sense, I felt embarrased, perhaps even ashamed. I've never fought with anyone in front of Ptolemy. And I've hardly ever fought with Kitty. And to think I started it. Oh well. I have to finish it, too.

I opened my mouth to answer, only to find Ptolemy say something first. "You went to the Other Place?" He was talking to Kitty. He must've been proud of himself.

"Yeah, yeah." I said haistilly. For some reason, I was more interested in fighting with Kitty. Perhaos to prove to Ptolemy that I shall had my old vigor; my old fighting spirit. "Yeah?" I was disreguarding what she had just said. "Two can play at that game! I _know _you had feelings for Nathaniel. And not hatred, either. I _know _you loved him. Otherwise, you wouldn't have _cried _so hard when I took his form!"

The base hit home. Kitty's once frothing aura stopped dead. She was stunned into silence. Even her aura didn't know what to do. She was literally shaking with rage. Her fists were balled and her teeth were clenched. "Get out," She ordered through clenched teeth.

"Why should I?"(7)

Ptolemy broke in. "Because she told you to. Leave, Bartimaeus."

With a frothing fury of my own, I obidently left through the window.

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(1) You can picture my point, right? I just don't want the two—and only—people I've ever cared about in my lifetime die because of me. Take Nat for example. I sorta, kinda, maybe, put up with him when I first met. And look what happened to him. Dead. Well…Not that his death was unenjoyable…I'm rambeling here. Read on.

(2) _Anubis_: A jackal headed Egyptian god of embalming the dead.

(3) Except for the small mole underneath her cheek. And her mother's aura wasn't dragged down almost to the point of death. But other then that, they were like twins. Well, then again, the age gap between them was noticeable…Damn. I'm rambeling again. Read on.

(4) And by definition of Bastard—if you look it up in the dictionary—it says a person who lives with one single parent. But then again, his parents dumped him. So…would he actually fit into the description of a bitch? No, I don't think so. That's a compliment.

(5) Out of habit. I was a little embarrased, since I had always told him I didn't like taking a person's form—they were too complicated. But I did my best to hide it.

(6) I just _had _to add the last bit.

(7) I know I was being a jerk, but for some reason I couldn't help it.

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**Well, there it is! Another Kitty/Bartimaeus fight! It proves that even the best of friends have their moments. So, this is chapter…22? 21? I lost track. Kitty's next, with some earthshaking events to come! **


	22. XXII: Kitty

**Chapter 22**

**Kitty**

Kitty threw a random object at Bartimaeus as he left. She made sure she didn't hit him, But she wanted to prove a point. That and she couldn't keep all of her anger bottled. She was shaking with fury.

But when she was sure Bartimaeus was gone, She broke down crying. She buried her face in her hands, sank to the gound on her knees. Why had Bartimaeus been such a…Bastard? The two of them had been getting along fine until…until she summoned Ptolemy. But blaming Ptolemy was completely unjust. He really had nothing to do with it. It wasn't his fault. Perhaps Bartimaeus just wanted to prove something to Ptolemy, something that didn't come out right.

She felt Ptolemy crouch down beside her. "Kitty," He began. "I'm sorry for the way Rekhyt has been acting. There must be a reason for it." Kitty numbly nodded. The words meant little to her. She wasn't crying anymore, but she was still angry. She could feel it deep within her. She supposed it was something no one could ever get rid of, no matter how hard they tried. Anger was one of the emotions, and you can never get rid of emotion. Even tough djinn like Bartimaeus lost control of themselves. Although she didn't want to, she could feel her inner self already starting to forgive Bartimaeus. Ptolemy spoke to her again. "So, you've gone to the Other Place with Rekhyt?"

Kitty looked over to him now, studied his face. He was geniunely concerned with her feelings. "I did," She answered him. She felt as though she had to be as polite as possible. Bartimaeus had been right about that.

"How?" He asked her.

"I used _Acrophya. _You wrote it, right?"

Ptolemy nodded. He made himself comfortable on the floor and continued. "Has any other magician done the same?"

Kitty followed him and made herself comfortable on the floor as well. They were facing the other, staring into the other's eyes as they spoke. It was truly…magical how connected she felt with him at the moment. "I'm sorry," she shook her head. "but—according to Bartimaeus—no other magician has followed you."

Ptolemy shook his head sadly, looked to the ground for a moment. After a while he looked back up to her, again staring her in the eyes, making her feel small. "That's a shame," He sounded geniunely dissapointed. "But you made it, right?" Kitty nodded. "Was it not awesome? I loved it."

Kitty again nodded. "It _was _beautiful. Hard to describe, really."

Ptolemy nodded in agreement. "Still. At least my method was followable. Why did you seek to go there in the first place?" Kitty studied him for a moment, as though she was expecting judgement. She didn't know why she was looking for it—Ptolemy seemed nice enough. She looked into his eyes and saw that they were full of curiosity, not judgement. As Bartimaeus had said, Ptolemy was naturally curious. She felt she could trust him. So she told him the story. The whole story. Starting with Jakob. She left nothing out, and made sure she made her point before continuing.

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Ptolemy listened intently as Kitty continued on with her story. He never interrupted, not even to gasp. Instead he just nodded and looked sad at some points. Sometimes his expression changed to excitement or fear, but he never said anything. All in all, he was the perfect listener.

"It seems," he started when Kitty finshed. "that you, Nathaniel, and Rekhyt are very close. Especially with the Nouda issue." He shook his head in thought. "I can't see why the two of you are fighting."

Kitty shrugged in reply to his answer. "I think that the shock of seeing you again is too much for him at the moment. He's a touh djinni—he doesn't like showing emotion too often. You know, your form is his preferred guize."

Ptolemy seemed uneasy at this; perhaps embarrased. "Really? I wonder why."

"Bartimaeus says it's because you gave him so much freedom here, on Earth. You allowed him to go from Earth to the Other Place whenever he wanted. That's something no one else would do. And also because you put enough trust in him to go to the Other Place. You wanted to unite djinn and humans, and even tried. He's never forgotten."

Ptolemy seemed truly touched. "He told you this?"

Kitty nodded. "He did. When I first summoned him, I reminded him of you and he got really, _really _angry."

"You should know what names can do."

Kitty smiled, cocked her head slightly to one side. "That's exactly what he said. He really respects you, you know."

Ptolemy was silent for a moment. "I didn't know," He shook his head and looked away in thought.

"He wanted people to follow you. He wanted you to suceed. He was happy to be in your service. He'd do anything for you, even if it meant his life." Ptolemy was dead silent after this. Kitty knew he wanted to say something, but was chocked up in his thoughts. She could tell by the looks on his face. Her message had hit hard. But what now? She had said what she wanted to, and Ptolemy understood. What else was there to say?

A light—but not too loud so one could hear—knock on the door. "Kathleen, dear," Her mother called to her. "There's someone here to see you. She's from the government."

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**And that's the chapter! Cliffy! Yay! Ooh, rambeling. I like the KittyPtolemy bond forming here…Slight surprise in later chapters for fans. But until then, I leave you to read on and review. Give me your opinions, I'd like that, yes I would. Yay. Um…Why am I still here? I don't know myself, but maybe it's to give me something to do. Well…HUGE Gasp OMG(I don't do that unless I'm seriously excited) I just noticed Kitty and Nathaniel are from London! That means they have british accents! I _love _british accents! What sort of accent would Bartimaeus have? Hmm…Something more to think about. See ya later! **


	23. XXIII: Ptolemy

**Chapter 23**

**Ptolemy **

The girl—Kathleen, or Kitty—gave a cry of distress. "What's her name?" She asked the person behind the door.

"Jane Farrar of police. She wants to speak with you." The person hesitated. "You didn't do anything wrong again, did you?"

Kathleen sighed. "No, mom, I didn't. Send her in if you must." She turned to Ptolemy. "_What _are we gonna do with you?"

"What?" Ptolemy was worried. He didn't like the tone of Kathleen's voice. "I don't understand."

"Farrar doesn't know I've summoned you. No one but Bartimaeus does. She doesn't know I've summoned Bartimaeus, either. You guys are my secrets."

"Why don't you just introduce me?" Ptolemy was confused. None of this was making sense. And why was he having normal human feelings? Worry and confusion were human feelings. Why was he experiancing them when he was supposed to be dead, and only called back to Geb? He wasn't actually alive again, was he?

"I'm a commmoner," Kathleen broke through his thoughts. "I'm not supposed to be—"

"Wait," Ptolemy didn't like to interrupt, but he had to. "You're a commoner and you can summon Bartimaeus? I don't mean to be rude but—"

"I know. Here, hide under my bed until I give the okay. Try not to expose yourself." Kathleen motioned to her bed. Ptolemy hesitated. He most certainly did _not _want to hide under a bed. It was completely unorthadox! But, oh well. He relunctantly did as he was told.

Ptolemy scurried under the bed and was out of sight just as someone entered the room. It was a woman, if legs were anything to go by. He crept back up to the edge of the bed and was able to make out most of the details. She had jet black hair and deep green eyes. She closed the door behind her and smiled. Her teeth were sharp. Too sharp to be human. Ptolemy felt one of his pointed teeth. It wasn't half as sharp as the woman's—Jane Farrar. Hers looked as though they could slice through bone; snap it in half. Ptolemy shuddered and crawled back under the bed.

"Jane Farrar," Kathleen said. Although Ptolemy could no longer see her, he recognized the voice.

"Kathleen Jones," Jane replied. Her voice was deep, luring. Seductive.

"What do you want?"

The legs of Jane moved and walked over to Kathleen's desk. Ptolemy pulled forward again, saw that Jane was looking at her valuables. She picked up a small glass cup and studied it. "I've come for your help."

"Now why would I do such a stupid thing like _that_?" Kathleen's voice was full of sarcasim. She crossed her arms.

"Because I think you're the only one who _can _help me."

"Ironic. A noble and important member of the government, who just so happens to be a magician, seeks the help of a filthy commoner. Funny. So, what do you want me to do? Make a rope out of sand? Split the oceans?"

"No," Either Jane was good at blocking out all of Kathleen's insults, or they didn't mean anything to her. "I am aware that you read much."

"Yeah, so?"

"I have a…problem. I was hoping you'd be able to help."

"What's your problem? Haven't been able to seduce a man into sleeping with you?"

Jane growled, deep in her throat.

Ptolemy shuddered in his hiding place. That growl was _definatly _not human. Ptolemy crawled back further underneath the bed. Had the bed not been placed beside the wall, his feet would've been sticking out the other end. He closed his eyes and prayed Kathleen wouldn't do anything stupid.

"No," Jane growled. "My problem is that I'm part werewolf. But I don't want to be. I figured you were the only person who could help me—seeing as you read so much."

Deep under the bed, Ptolemy gave a little gasp. Werewolves. They were rare back home. But was there a way to reverse the process? Ptolemy didn't know. He never researched the topic much.

"I'm not sure I can do anything for that," Kathleen answered honsetly, her voice low.

"But you have to!" Jane exploded. "I don't want to be a werewolf!"

"Say I _do _find you your cure. What would I get?"

"Whatever you want! Fame! Wealth! Power! Anything!"

"And why should I help _you, _of all people?"

Jane growled again. Obviously, she had been gripping the glass too hard. Ptolemy heard it shatter, watched the pieces hit the ground. Ptolemy was growing more frightened by the minute. He had never met a real live werewolf.

"Because if you _don't_," Jane's voice darkened. "I'll make _sure _you're on _my _side by the end of the day." Ptolemy knew what she meant. If Kathleen didn't sucumb to Jane's request, Jane would turn her into a werewolf herself.

"No," Ptolemy whispered to himself. "She wouldn't. She couldn't…" His voice drifted off. He wasn't sure if she could or not. He had never really researched werewolves much. Only the rumors he had heard around the Palace, library, country, and what Bartimaeus told him.

Kathleen sighed. Ptolemy guessed she was standing in front of the bed. Her legs were visible. "Alright, Farrar," she caved. "At the risk of becoming a _monster _like yourself, I agree to help you. _However, _you have to keep _all _of the things you see and learn to yourself. And if you tell _anyone—"_

"I won't," Jane interrupted. "Now that you know I'm part wolf, there's just enough leverage on me as there is on you."

Another sigh from Kathleen. "Alright. I 'll show you one of my secrets." She stopped for a moment. "Come on out, Ptolemy." Ptolemy hesitated. Should he obey? Why not, though? Oh well. Might as well. Slowly, he crawled out from under the bed and righted himself. He corrected his loincloth and waited.

Jane was silent for a moment. "You look just like that demon John—"

Ptolemy bursted into fury. How _dare _that _bitch _refer to Bartimaeus as a demon? He burst into words, shouting every name under the sun, in Egyptian. She stared at him blankly, wondering what he was saying. He continued shouting at her until Kathleen broke through her stunned silence and slapped a hand over his mouth. He continued on ranting at her, although his voice was now muffled.

"Ptolemy!" Kathleen hissed. She looked back to Jane, grew a cheezy smile on her face. "Um…sorry 'bout that. He…er…doesn't like it when you call a djinn a demon. Er…yeah…you should go now."

Jane nodded, studied Ptolemy for a moment. "Keep him under control next time." She walked out. Ptolemy shouted after her, although he couldn't because Kathleen's hand over his mouth made it harder to breathe. He gave a final angry growl as the door closed and Jane was gone.

Kathleen turned to him. "Now, I'm gonna let go of your lips. When I do, try not to scream or anything, okay?" Ptolemy closed his eyes, recollected his normal self, nodded.

Kathleen let go of his mouth, he lightly kicked the floor, stared at the door and cursed after Jane as she left. He heard Kathleen laugh, but didn't look at her. Instead, he went to the window and gazed out of it like he used to. His mind slowly began to clear.

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**Well, there's this chapter. Wondering what Ptolemy said to Farrar? You'll find out in the next chapter, Bartimaeus. He'll tell ya everything! Coming soon! Oh, and by the way, for everyone who doesn't know, Geb: Egyptian god of the Earth. Bartimaeus chapter coming next!**


	24. XXIV: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 24**

**Bartimaeus**

How could someone be such an idiot? I had _totally _blown whatever friendship I had with Kitty. How could I be such an idiot? Why had I even done that in the first place? I knew full well how much my words hurt her. And to think she had done such a great thing for me.(1)

It was a good thing I hadn't left her house completely. No, I had flown out of the house, took the form of a spider, and clung on to the side of her bedrooom window. If I hadn't I wouldn't have heard what Ptolemy had said to Farrar. I heard all of it. And the conversations, too.

Here's what Ptolemy said:(2) "You bitch! How _dare _you call him a demon? He is not! Far from it! You little W---!" He said more, but it was all run together and sounded a little odd. He _could _swear, but not very well. It didn't sound too good together, but all in all it was a good combination of insults and compliments. I had to admit I was laughing the entire time.

Ptolemy had defended me with all his might. And he said…Well, never mind what he said.

Well, in the other hand, I wouldn't be needed or wanted until Kitty summoned me. So, what to do?(3)

Glumily, the spider crawled down the side of the house and away to Mr. Button's place. Perhaps there'd be something interesting there.

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(1) Summoning Ptolemy, going to the Other Place, wanting to get dijnn to battle _with _her and not _for _her. She was like a female version of Ptolemy. I'm never going to forget that. I need to find someway to apollogize to her.

(2) I'm going to edit out most of it. Never knew he could swear so good…

(3) In all technicality, I could go where ever I wanted until I was summoned again. That's the fake freedom for you.

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A/n 

**I know how short this is, but it's basically just an overview chapter, Bartimaeus reviewing Ptolemy. The next one is longer. I have some answers for some revewers.**

**Gnome Leader: **_I'm not too sure about why Farrar approached Kitty. I'm sure there are dozens of other apprentices who also read a lot. And how did she know that Kitty reads more than usual? Don't take this as a flame, just pointing out bits that seem... uncovered :P_

**That's a good point there. I had never realized such a big loophole in the plotline. But I _do _have a slight explination for it. Farrar approached Kitty over thousands of other people because Kitty is the one person she knows she can trust. Why? Because she's a commoner, and Farrar's a magician. See the advantage there? Kitty isn't just an apprentice anymore. She's pretty much a full-fledged magician—in my story anyway. In this story she's just like Ptolemy. Oh, and I _never _take things as a flame. Even flames help you to grow in writing. Anything's helpful. I hope this helps. ;-) **

**Until the next chapter, ciao! (That's Italian, that is) **


	25. XXV: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 25**

**Bartimaeus **

As I landed on the roof of Mr. Button's house, I had two things on my mind. Kitty and Ptolemy. Why? Because they're the two most important people I know. Both went to the Other Place with me, and both had a sense of determination and love for us djinn. Wow, I never realized how similar they are. They could make great friends, I guess.

I made the nessecary change and stole into the house, hoping that nothing would be waiting for me there. There wasn't any strong pulse anymore, so whatever was radiating such power had fled or been taken since my last visit. And for that I was somewhat thankful. I honestly didn't want to take part in any sort of battle at the moment.(1)

Inside, everything was as before. Nothin ghad changed since my previous visit, and that included Mr. Button's body. Okay, deep breaths. Euch. Flies were abundunt, plentiful. Gross. The decaying body was staring back at me. Maggots were eating their way through the eyes and nose. Mold covering the openings were the flies seemed to have abandoned. What meat was left of the eyes was drawing back into the skull.

Euch, I'd better say no more.(3)

Okay, more deep breaths. I took the form of Ptolemy and tried to ignore Mr. Button's body, although it was difficult. When he was out of sight, I looked around. Everything was as before. Books were strewn around the place, and it was hard to keep balance.

Alright. Here's a plan. I can look for more books for Kitty. Yes, That's a good idea.(5)

I slipped into another room and looked around. There were tons of books. Thousands upon thousands, all in alphabetical order by name of author. The entire collection of books rivaled the one in the British library. The room was huge; it had to bee at least a hundred feet high. I guessed that was what most of the mansion was made of. It all ended in a circular curve towards the end of the room. In that said curve was the largest bookcases I had ever seen. It went all the way to the ceiling and covered the entire curve of the room. In front of said bookcase were tons of smaller bookcases, about the standard size of a bookcase. There were tons of them. I estimated somwhere around a hundred. If Ptolemy were here, he'd faint. I wondered vaguely what Kitty would think.

I decided to bring Kitty back all of Ptolemy's works. He didn't have much, so it wouldn't be much trouble to carry them all.

Alright. If these books were stacked by alphabetical order, Ptolemy would be under 'P'. And if each of the normal bookshelves were one entire letter, Ptolemy's works would be found at the sixteenth bookcase. So, that's where I headed.

Over at the 'P' bookshelf, I skimmed the spines of the books. I searched with a fine tooth-comb, but no Ptolemy. I stepped back for a moment. Where else could his works be found? But when I got a better look at the books, I noticed they were in order by last name. Ptolemy didn't have a last name. So, would he be over at the big bookshelf?

I decided to find out, and walked over to it. I read a random spine of the book. It was 'J'. The spine said Jabor. So Ptolemy wouldn't be at the big bookshelf, either. It was all djinn. So where was Ptolemy's works?

Just as I was about to find out, I felt the summons.

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Besides, I'm not the fighting type. Run, dodge, and attack. That's more like me.

Aren't you people the least bit hygenic? I mean _seriously. _It's been what, three days since he'd been murdered? Eww. Even for somone like me, who's seen a lot of things in his long lifetime, not cleaning up after a murderer for three days is seriously disgusting.

(4) For the sake of _both _our stomachs.

(5) I'm not nervous. Do I sound nervous to you?

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**No time to write a A/n. Kitty chapter next. I'm back at school and getting the laptop in 1-2 weeks, so updates will be every night! I gotta go now, bye! **


	26. XXVI: Kitty

**Chapter 26 **

**Kitty **

Both Kitty and Ptolemy were silent after Farrar's departure. After a while, Ptolemy turned to her. "You should summon Rekhyt. We may need him."

Kitty nodded. "One problem. I don't have anything to make out the penticles. And my origianl one is at my other place."

Ptolrmy was silent for a moment. "Perhaps he'll come to you."

"Not any time soon. He knows I'm still…mad at him." She wanted to say 'pissed', but she felt inclined to be polite. Bartimaeus was right; Ptolemy _did _have a vibe to him. His 'vibe' made her want to say all the apropriate words.

"There's no place around here that sells that sort of thing?" His voice broke through her thoughts. Everything about him was so…other worldly. It was hard to explain. He was there, but his voice seemed far away, lost in his thoughts, yet he was fully aware of his surroundings. He was an odd person, but she enjoyed being in his company. He made her feel…normal somehow. She wasn't sure how exactly, but there was just something to him.

Kitty forced herself free from her thoughts and answered him. "I think there's a spice market at the Trafalgar square. We _might _be able to find a place there that sells the nessecary chalks, too."

"Spcie market?" Ptolemy repeated. His eyes glittered at the mention. Kitty remembered Bartimaeus saying something about Ptolemy's attraction to spice markets. She also remembered Bartimaeus saying that was where the final—and sucessful—assaination was made. Perhaps it would've been better if she hadn't meantioned anything.

"Yeah. I hear it's your favorite place."

"Who told you that?"

"A little birdy told me." Kitty stopped for a moment and looked out the window. The sun was rising across the horizon. Streaks of purple ran across the clouds in every direction. It was beautiful. It would've been better by a cliff side, away from all the hustle and bustle of the city. The ocean splashing up against the rocks, creating a soothing mist and sound. Kitty imagined her feet swinging over the edge as she sat and stared fondly down at the ocean. She imagined the sea mist lightly sprinkling her legs.

Kitty felt herself blush as she suddenly imagined Ptolemy sitting beside her, holding her hand. His legs were swinging freely over the cliffside as well. He had a happy look to his face and was staring out to the horizion in wonder and awe. Kitty laid her head on his shoulder—

"Kathleen," Ptolemy broke through her thoughts. His perfect, beautiful voice…Kitty's blush—if she was in fact blushing—deepened. "are you alright? You've fallen silent."

Kitty shook her head in attempt to focus. She stared into Ptolemy's eyes. His beautiful, dark green eyes. Almost sea green. Kitty felt herself fall into them…His tan skin was reflected by his white—it had a hint of tan to it, though—loincloth. The dark black hair, long bangs…His limbs were thin, but not stick-like. Everything worked him together to make one perfect boy.

Kitty's heart picked up pace as she continued to study Ptolemy.

Miss. Ptolemaeus of Alexandria.

Kitty nodded. That sounded real nice.

"Kathleen," Ptolemy broke in. "are you alright? You're silent again." Ptolemy stopped for a moment to study her. "Why are you staring at me? It's rude, you know."

Kitty finally broke through her trance by looking at the floor. "Sorry," she answered. "I got lost in my thoughts."

"What were you thinking about?" Ptolemy sounded genuinely curious.

Kitty desperately wanted to say 'you', but she knew it would create an awkward silence. That and it would ruin her pride and reputation. "Bartimaeus," she answered instead. He was the first thing to come to mind.

"Why are you thinking about Rekhyt?" Ptolemy was as polie and formal as a young settler. He was frail, too; he could be broken easily. No wonder Bartimaeus had been so upset when Ptolemy sacrificed himself for him. Ptolemy continued, "I thought you were mad at him."

Kitty desperately wanted to change the subject, but she couldn't come up with something good enough. She said the first thing that came to mind. "Look, the sun's coming up. When can go to the spice market when Mum and Dad get up."

Ptolemy nodded and walked over to the window. He rested his left arm on the windowsilll, and rested his heand on his left hand. He brought his right arm up and rested it on the windowsill. He placed his hand underneath his head hand stared out the window.

Kitty's heart began to race again.

"You're lucky," Ptolemy's voice broke through her thoughts.

"Why?" She managed.

"You have parents who love you. I never knew mine—they died when I was young."

Kitty gave a slight gasp when she remembered what Bartimaeus had told her. Bringing up parents in front of Ptolemy was a bad idea. "I'm sorry Ptolemy," she began to apollogize. "I didn't know." She tried to sound as apollogetic as she could. She could tell Ptolemy was upset by the tone of his voice. She guessed that was why he had moved away from her, so she wouldn't be able to see his being upset.

"It doesn't matter," Ptolemy wearily breathed as he turned back around to face her. "That was a long, long time ago."

Kitty looked into Ptolemy's eyes. They were full of sorrow. She tried to change the subject. "Well…We should go get some summoning stuff. You're right; we need Bartimaeus." Ptolemy just nodded. "Well then, I guess we should be going." Kitty finished awkwardly. Ptolemy's sad mood made her feel naked, exposed. Ptolemy stared at her, his eyes watering. His eyes sparkaled beautifully in the light and his tears. He was so _beautiful…_"'Tell you what, you can stay here instead and stay with Mum and Dad. They'll be your foster parents." She stopped and waited for Ptolemy to respond. When he didn't, she continued on. "They won't mind. In fact, they'd probably preferr to have someone different and new in the house to talk to. And don't worry, they don't hate magicians. I'm sure if you tell them you're a magician they'll be all over you. They love to impress and pleasure."

Ptolemy was silent for a moment, thinking it over. "Alright," he answered at last. "If you say so, Kitty. But you'll be back soon, right?"

The look in Ptolemy's eyes made Kitty think that he thought she was trying to find a way to abandon him. "I should only be gone an hour to two," she replied. "Then we can summon Bartimaeus."

Ptolemy's mood changed a little. He nodded and blinked the tears away. "Alright."

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**The KittyPtolemy thing was too soon, wasn't it? Oh, I _knew _it was too soon! Give some opinions, I need to here what uou all think of the idea. It might be a pairing, it might not. Depending on how I feel after I get some of your reviews. Remember, you're reviews are what help me perfect my story and writing! **


	27. XXVII: Ptolemy

**Chapter 27**

**Ptolemy **

Kathleen was relunctant to go. That much Ptolemy could tell. But she did leave eventually, leaving Ptolemy alone with her parents.

Ptolemy crept out of Kathleen's room and walked over to the guardrail of the stairwell. He peered down the level below. All was silent; no one was present. Ptolemy's guessed Kathleen's parent's were still sleeping. Besides, the sun had just come up a few hours ago. Ptolemy remembered when he would sleep in because he felt like it...Knowing Bartimaeus was over him made him smile in his dreams...But that was long ago; it didn't matter now.

Ptolemy gently rested his left hand on the rail as he slowly walked down the stairs. In all honesty, he was nervous. What would Iris and Alfred think of him once they got to know him better? They had only gotten a glimpse of him before. But Kathleen said they were nice to magicians. Perhaps that could be his advantage. But then again, could he trust her parents? Could he confinde in them that he was somone who conversed daily with creatures from another world. That he had _been _to that world? Ptolemy decided to keep the last bit to himself.

* * *

Downstairs, the first person Ptolemy met was Iris. She had a bubbly personality about her, and was going on working in some area, generating heat from some machines. Iris looked up to him and gave him a charming smile. "Nathaniel! I see you're up bright and early. Did I wake you?" 

Ptolemy shook his head. "No, of course not. I'm use to getting little sleep," He remembered back to when he was being attacked, followed, almost murdered by assasins that his cousin hired. Those were troubling times...

"Really? Why is that?" Iris' voice broke through his thoughts. Ptolemy looked up to her. She tiled her head slightly to one side in curiosity. "Where are you from?"

Ptolemy felt it was safe to at least tell her that. "Egypt."

"Egypt? Really? I hear that's a nice place to live. Do you think?"

"Yes. Egypt is a lovely place. You should visit it sometime."

Iris sighed. "I would if I could. But I can't. With the budget we're on..." She drifted off and went to preparing food. She changed the subject. "Nathaniel, you look peckish. Are you hungry?" In response to that, his stomach growled. The sides of his mouth felt as though they were burning, and he felt like he had a knot in his stomach that was eating itself. He nodded. "Alright. Let's see what we have that intrests you. Follow me."

* * *

Ptolemy followed Iris into the kitchen. Or, at least, that's what he _thought _it was. It was so strange looking; nothing like the ones back in Egypt. He didn't know any of the big box-y things uses. It was as if he was a child first going into one of the temples of Egypt. All wide-eyed, oohing and aahing at pretty much everything inside. 

Iris walked over to a big metal thing that was about half her height. But Ptolemy walked over to a large, white, rectangular thing. It had to be twice his height.

Ptolemy's interest garbbed at him. He grabbed a part of the white thing that jutted out at him and slowly, cautiously, pulled. A gust of cold air shot at him. It was plesant, but also cold and too sudden. Something deep within the box clicked, a humming followed. Ptolemy gasped and fell backwards. He felt the shock of the fall.

Iris looked over at him. "Nathaniel, dear, what's wrong?" She helped him up.

"What is that...thing?"

"You mean the refridgeorator?"

"No. That big white thing," Ptolemy pointed to it.

"Yes, that's a refridegorator. They don't have any in Egypt?"

"No," Ptolemy answered as he dusted himself off, corrected his loincloth. "I suppose Egypt isn't as advanced as London."

"I suppose not," Iris agreed. "Perhaps it'd be better if you stayed out of the kitchen until the food's done."

Ptolemy nodded in agreement. "Good idea." He stopped for a moment. "Do you have any books I can read? About djinn?"

Iris shook her head. "Sorry. We're not magicians."

"But aren't you allowed to read any books you want?"

Iris shook her head sadly. "No," she answered as she closed the refridgeorator door. "The magicians are in control. We don't have as much liberty in that area as--I'm assuming--you do. They makes all the laws. Commoners like us don't make a fuss about it--after all, the government is made up of magicians--we stay on our own and the magicians don't bother us. If we go by the rules we don't get hurt. I suppose it's a fair ecosystem." She moved off to what she was doing before. Ptolemy followed after her, but made sure to keep out of her way.

He decided he was still in the way and took a seat at the kitchen table. At least there was _something _in this room that wasn't alien to him. Once Irisbegan to contine on with her cooking again, a sweet smell filled the air. That strange knot felling in his stomach seemed to grow in unison to the smell. The sides of his mouh again burned. For the first time in about two thousand years, Ptolemy was hungry.

* * *

**A/n**

**OK, I know I said I was going to update everyday, but I can't this year! Damn administrators for the laptops blocked Fanfiction. And ya know why? The filter says it has 'Sexual Materials'. Seriously! I feel like...UH! But whatever. I'll try to update as much as possible, but it probably won't be everyday as I had planned. I hope someone catches on to the thing in this chapter...**


	28. XXVIII: Ptolemy

**Guess who's back? And guess who can go onto FanFiction? That's right! Me! Yay!**

**I'm just beginning to realize I'm overactive….**

**Chapter 28 **

**Ptolemy **

Due to Iris' intentions, Ptolemy was well fed before Alfred woke. The two of them—Iris and Ptolemy—had a long debate about the political state of the government. Ptolemy had proved that the current condition of London wasn't good. He had proven to her that the commoners weren't living life to their fullest—the magicians were living it for them. He had even gotten her to think that the war in America wasn't as good and sweet as it sounded. He reminded her of the bloodshed, the lives sacrificed. And to what affect? Iris was forced to admit that she didn't even know. The conversation ended short when Alfred entered the room.

"Well, Nathaniel," Iris started after Alfred retired to his study. "it's just the two of us."

"Please, call me Ptolemy—If you don't mind—I prefer it." The name Nathaniel brought a sick feeling over him. It made him feel angry; disappointed in magicians. He remembered someone by the name of Nathaniel vaguely from another place. It was so perfect there…That was it! Ptolemy remembered seeing Nathaniel in the Afterlife! They hadn't gotten along too well. And all because Nathaniel hadn't treated Bartimaeus with as much respect as he could have. The two of them almost got into a fight at one point.

But minute by minute, hour by hour, Ptolemy's memories of this place were slowly fading away. Ptolemy didn't understand why, but he knew one thing; something was wrong. He was forgetting about the Afterlife, and remembering his actual life in more and more detail. He was beginning to remember the smell of his own blood after he coughed it up; he was remembering more and more details of the day he died. Rekhyt's roar of sorrow and regret when he started fading away, returning to the Other Place…

Everything was coming back to him, and everything was slipping away.

Iris broke through his thoughts. "Ptolemy? I like that. Sounds more Egypt-oriented. Alright then. Ptolemy it is."

Ptolemy snapped back into reality. "Thank you. It's much appreciated."

"So," Iris started as she sat down at the table. "You think our government is unequal?" She was referring to their earlier conversation.

Ptolemy nodded and sat down across from Iris. "Yes, I do. It's not fair that the magicians rule everything. People such as yourself have no real life—the magicians life it for you. And besides, do you realize how many people are dying in America? Do you even know why your troops are over there in the first place?"

"I have to admit that I don't." Iris caved.

"Exactly. You commoners should have a representative in your 'Parliament'. Your people have basically no say in anything that goes on outside your homes. And also, who runs your major businesses? Magicians. Commoners like you can't even have a good paying job. It's completely unfair."

"So then, what's _your _government like?"

Ptolemy again hesitated. Could he trust Iris with information like this? According to their previous conversation, he could. But would it be wise? Iris reminded her so much of Kathleen, though. He felt he could trust Iris with his life. "My government is something the opposite of yours. Magic is frowned upon. I knew some people that were executed because they were found out." He was referring to himself there, but that little point wasn't exactly important at the moment. "Magicians were considered evil by the commoners." He decided to stop there.

"Is everything well there; being run by commoners and everything?"

"Same way your government does. Only, we tend to stay out of wars."

Iris smiled and said something, but Ptolemy wasn't listening. He had felt an odd sensation of an alien presence in the room. He looked around, saw nothing. He sensed a djinni in the room of some power. But he couldn't sense exactly where it was.

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**A/n **

**Yay, I am now officially able to get on Fanfiction whenever I want on my laptop! Which means updates everyday! I'm so happy now! Next chapter is Farrar, and I don't really know why, but I don't read what I write after I've written it…so…yeah…**


	29. XXIX: Jane Farrar

**Chapter 29 **

**Jane Farrar **

After Farrar's 'proposal' to Kitty, she had returned to her home. It was nothing to speak of, really. It was just the most elegant Victorian mansion in London—aside from the Prime Minister's. It had red shutters and was a bright pink shade—you couldn't miss it. She had done everything in her power just to make her home more outward and impressive then the Prime Minster's. Most magicians thought this. She had a grand staircase that led up to it as big as the British Museum's. It could hold up to one thousand people comfortably.

Farrar stepped inside. There were two floors to her house. Each floor had two bathrooms, five bedrooms, and three kitchens. Each room of those separate floors has its own one-of-a-kind Persian rug. A glass chandelier hung from each room, everyone oversized and elegant. Her home wasn't anything special, really.

Farrar smiled as she looked around the master Living Room. Everything was clean, neat, orderly. She liked to flaunt every last thins she had. She had five servants to keep the place.

And yet, she was never really happy. Her face was just a mask. It was always the same.

Deep in her thoughts, Farrar climbed up the stairs to the second level of her home—where she actually lived—ignoring the offers and hellos from her servants.

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One of the smallest bedrooms upstairs was the one she called her study. The other four bedrooms were used for other purposes. Her study was nothing, really. There were no windows; just the door to the room. She _did _have a large, _beautiful _glass chandelier hanging form the ceiling. When light hit it just right, it would look like a collection of frozen rain droplets. Each one would emit its own special color around the room.

It was beautiful, to say the least.

Farrar dropped her things onto her desk and left for the largest room upstairs; her bedroom.

Once there, Farrar collapsed onto her bed and sighed of relief. Her eyes slowly closed in comfort. The velvet red satin sheets around her made her feel relieved. She could feel herself slipping away.

_Mr. Button held his hands in front of his face, cowering in fear. The monster in front of him howled, he screamed in reply. The monster jumped down on him. _

_Her face was caked with blood. _

Farrar's eyes shot open. She gave a slight shout and bolted upright. _That wasn't me. _She convinced herself. _I did not kill Mr. Button. It's just my conscience. I did _not _kill him. _

Her own voice echoed through her head and another answered her. _You know what you are and you know you did it. _It wasn't buying anything she was telling herself.

"No!" She shouted to it. "I didn't kill him!" She shook her head in a vain attempt to clear the voices. One crept up behind her. _You're right. It's not your fault you killed him. You were abiding by the law. Eat or be eaten. _"No!" Farrar moaned and rolled onto her stomach. "I didn't intend for this to happen!"

Suddenly, then, she remembered back to when she was just a child. When she learned the true nature of her master, Mr. Henry Duvall. When she had angered him just too much. His nails grew into fang-like things, his teeth into fangs themselves. But clearest of all—the one thing she remembered best about that day—was her master's black, beady eyes. They had changed along with everything else, but they had stood out more. They stared at her the entire time, piercing into her soul.

Henry Duvall—or whatever humanity was left of him—had her cornered. She was shaking, trembling with fear. She whined, held her arm in front of her face for protection. She looked away and closed her eyes, trying to will the horror away. The wolf thing growled with hunger and lust. It lunged in to attack her.

Her body fell limp from the shock, fear, and pain. Her brain frantically sent out orders, but the body did not respond. She was helpless. But just when she had accepted the fact that she was going to die, her mouth responded to her brain's signals. She whined, "Stop! Please!"

The wolf-human-monster thing halted and backed away. The ears slowly began to shrink back into the skull, the hair all over the body was receding and eventually disappearing, and Mr. Duvall was slowly changing back to his human self. Duvall fell over, knocked unconscious.

When the figure was done, all that was left was a naked man panting were he lay. His eyes were closed.

Farrar just sat there for a moment, unable to comprehend everything that had happened. Then her brain again regained control and she sped out of the room. She slammed the door behind her and locked it.

Farrar ran to her room, crying as she ran. She slammed the door behind herself and locked it. She sat in front of the door and wept for a few hours.

When she was calmer, she began to examine her arm. It was indeed pretty bad; she could see what she thought to be muscle. She gently sucked the blood off her arm as she always did when she got cut. But when she did this, she could feel something forcing its way through her veins. Her body gave a lurch forward, her bladder released. She managed to stand, but only to be on the ground again when her legs collapsed. She stared up to the ceiling in petrified horror. Her body lurched upward again and continued to do so. She felt great pain in her abdomen and had to double over into the fetus position. She screamed—mostly in horror—as the pain continued. It went from her lower intestines, up to the stomach, the liver. But it stopped at the heart. _The heart shall remain unharmed. _Something deep inside her said.

Her arms spread out, legs wherever, she stared into the light on the ceiling. After a while, she looked over to her still-bleeding arm. Her blood glistened in the light. She felt hunger deep within her. _Feed or become feed. _Something again told her. She looked at her arm for another moment—the human in her reluctant to do as it was told. After a minute or two she could stand it not longer. She rolled over and drank the blood that kept on coming.

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The voices were silent now, but she knew they wouldn't stay that way for long. And she was right. Another spoke to her. _You're a wolf now; you've contracted the disease. Stop fighting and let the curse finish its work. _

"No," Farrar growled through gritted teeth. "I am _not _going to let this happen. I am _not _going to let it destroy me!"

_Fool. _The voice told her. But she knew this voice wasn't born of her thoughts. She had heard it before. She knew this voice was the voice of the wolf in her; the voice of the curse. She could not allow it to take her over. She would not allow it to take her over.

"I won't let you win! I know what you are. You're the voice of the curse, not of my imagination. I will _not _cave into your temptations!"

The voice fell silent.

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**A/n **

**Well, no one caught the thing at the last chapter, so you'll just have to read on to find out more of it. So, how's this chapter? I rather liked it…**


	30. XXX: Ptolemy

**Chapter 30 **

**Ptolemy **

Ptolemy was now sure of what was causing the disturbance. It was a djinni of some power; One that would be able to match Bartimaeus. Two or three more made themselves known. Bad. Really, really bad.

Ptolemy glanced over to Iris. She was ignorant to everything he sensed. She knew nothing whatsoever. "Is something wrong Ptolemy?" She asked him.

At first, he didn't respond. What could he say? Anything on the matter would make him seem like a total lunatic. He decided to try the indirect approach. "Mrs. Jones, I think we should go."

"Why? I'm quite content with where I am." She studied him for a moment. "Is something wrong?"

Ptolemy bit his lower lip in frantic concentration. His eyes darted back and fourth as he tried to think of something to say. He needed to coax Iris and Alfred out of the house before it was too late. What could he say to do that? Kathleen's voice rang in the back of his mind. _You can stay here with Mum and Dad. They won't mind, especially if you tell them you're a magician. _What had she meant by that? Were Iris and Alfred afraid of magicians? Ptolemy decided to take a stab at it. "I'm a magician." He tried to sound as casual as possible.

Iris gasped. "_You_, Ptolemy? You're a magician?"

Ptolemy nodded hurriedly. "Yes. And I can sense something is here with us that shouldn't be here. We have to—" A loud thump from upstairs cut him off. Iris screamed. Ptolemy had spooked her.

Before either could react, a djinni came from behind. Neither saw it coming. But at that same moment, Kathleen returned. "Mum, Ptolemy, watch out!" Both turned to face her, but instead found the djinni hitting her with a Compression. It was tight enough—yet controlled enough—to restrain her from moving without hurting her. It was strong enough not to be effected by her resilience. Wait, how had he known she was resilient to magic? Had she told him? He couldn't recall.

But that didn't matter now. All that mattered was saving Kathleen—that was his first priority—and defeating the enemy djinn. But how? Bartimaeus was no where to be found.

Before Ptolemy or Iris could react, they were tied together by another Compression from the djinni. Ptolemy blacked out before he could see or hear anything else.

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**A/n **

**Short chapter, I know. But whatever. Yeah…nothing to say…odd for me…**


	31. XXXI: Kitty

**Chapter 31 **

**Kitty **

Thanks to her resilience and the weakness of the Compression, Kitty survived the demon's attack. But she blacked out. The last thing she saw was Ptolemy's fearful eyes. Their eyes had locked for what seemed like an eternity. Then she blacked out.

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Hearing was the first sense to come back. She heard something, a voice. It was foreign to her. "Shut up you bitch! Stop your whining!"

Wait, that voice _was _familiar. But where had she heard it before….?

"Please, let us go! Please!" Kitty tried to move, but her conscious level wasn't that high yet.

Thought and recognition came back to her next. She recognized the pleading voice as her mother. Her thoughts were hard to hear between the pounding of her blood in her ears and the terrible, painful ringing. She couldn't tell which was worse. Her sense of touch was still disoriented.

But then it started to return.

She felt _horrible. _

No, wait, it was worse then that.

She felt as though she had been raped, in labor, constipated with a stomach virus, and had her head beaten in a couple of times. All at once.

Next to come was her eyesight. When she opened her eyes, she was able to make out fuzzy shapes. It was like looking underwater. And her eyes stung as if chlorine had hit them. But slowly, surely, her vision cleared.

Everything was dark and it was hard to see clearly. Her hearing was the keenest sense she had. She could hear someone—a tall, heavily built man presumably—walking behind her. The man picked her up from her armpits and roughly shoved her onto her feet.

"Summon your demon," He instructed her.

"What?" Speech came back. "I'm a—"

"I know you have a demon at your disposal. Now, summon it or your little friends here will die. Which do you prefer?" Kitty _knew _she had heard that voice before. She used to hear it everyday…

She dismissed the thoughts and looked below herself. She was standing within a pentacle. Everything was ready for her. Reluctantly, she began the incantations.

Bartimaeus appeared in a few moments later in Ptolemy's form. He opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again when he got a better look at the settings. His eyes squinted and darted from left to right, searching for something. His brow furrowed, a suspicious look grew on his face. He wasn't moving at all, with the exception of his eyes. He was hardly breathing—if djinn breathe at all.

When his eyes met the man who had captured Kitty, he transfixed on him. Studying him, remembering, perhaps thinking. Everyone was silent for what seemed to Kitty like an eternity.

The man broke the silence. "Bartimaeus, good to see you. It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"I thought you were dead." Bartimaeus spoke for the first time. He answered without emotion, as though he didn't care.

"Now, do we _really _have to start on said terms? Oh, alright. No, I'm _not _dead, as you can clearly see. I'm one hundred percent free."

"Here we go again," Bartimaeus replied as he rolled his eyes, folded his arms.

"You're just a skeptic. You've always been. You've never listened to my logic."

"Because I'm tired of it! Listening to djinn like you…" That's where Kitty lost interest. The 'person' Bartimaeus was talking to was a djinni. That means someone commissioned him and was controlling him. But who? Farrar was the only one Kitty could think of, and she was now off the suspect list. So, who could it be? "It makes me sick!" Bartimaeus retorted. "All you ever talk about is getting revenge on humans. Don't get me wrong—I _love _getting revenge—but you! All you do is rant on and on about how free you are and how your logic works. It's utterly repulsing!"

"Bartimaeus, all your years in perpetual servitude has corrupted your system. You've changed over the years."

"As does everyone," was Bartimaeus' simple respond. After a while, he continued. "Alright," he sighed. "how are you free _this _time?"

"Glad you asked. I was summoned normally by a normal magician, but she wasn't as she turned out to be. I wasn't bonded to her. I soon learned that I didn't have to take her orders. Yes, I'm stuck here on Earth, but there's no pain of being here. I can change my shape as much as I want, all with no pain."

"You've gone mad!" Bartimaeus threw his hands down. "I thought you were bad before, but this takes the cake!"

Kitty broke in between them. She spoke to Bartimaeus. "Figure that out all on your own, did ya?" Everyone fell silent.

But then, Bartimaeus' eyes widened. He looked around frantically. "Where's Ptolemy?"

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**A/n **

**I am on a roll! Where's Ptolemy? Read on. **


	32. XXXII: Ptolemy

**Chapter 32 **

**Ptolemy **

Dark. Everything was dark. Had Ptolemy been unconscious? He couldn't recall what would make him pass out.

The first sense to come back was touch. He could feel her was bonded from the wrists and ankles. There was a cloth stuck in his mouth, one over his eyes, and another over his mouth. He was surprised her could breathe.

Whoever—or whatever—had taken him captive didn't want him to make any noise.

The next sense to come back was hearing. Somewhere off in the distance, water dripped from a pipe down to a puddle on the ground. Other then that, however, all was silent.

Smell came next. And boy, did he _not _want it! It smelled heavily of ammonia. _Yuck. _He thought to himself.

Thought came back next. The electrons and neurons in his brain managed to bring their signals to where they were meant to be. His brain was now fully functioning. Now that he could think clearer, where was everyone? And what exactly had happened? His mind was racing with questions, but none of them could be answered.

His emotions came back with neurons, protons, and electrons. The first thing he felt was pain. Emotional pain. But he was supposed to be a spirit, wasn't he supposed to be oblivious to that sort of thing?

The next emotion to come along was panic. Were Kathleen and her parents alright? Where was he? Who had captured them? Why? Everything was a mess in his mind. It was hard for him to grasp the concept and hold it. If he tried thinking about one thing and moving onto another, he'd forget entirely about the former.

Ptolemy's head swam as he tried to force himself to think about more then one thing. His vision started to blur again. Ptolemy gave up.

Kitty flashed in front of Ptolemy's eyes. His heart raced. Where was she? Was she alright? His heart pumped something like adrenaline. His heart raced.

What was that feeling? Wait…_feelings. _He supposed to have those, was he? He had physical pain, too. How could a spirit have physical pain if it's not an earthly body? Why was he feeling anything? Why now?

A scream was heard from another room adjacent to his. Someone had shouted, "Where is he?" It was Kathleen. Ptolemy felt…_felt. _"Tell me where Ptolemy is, you bastard!" _She cares about me. _Ptolemy's heart fluttered again, but even more so.

A mess of sounds from the other room.

Next thing he knew, someone was bursting into the room and running over to him. "Don't worry, Ptolemy," The person said. It was Kathleen. "I'll get you outta here." Kathleen brought that feeling to his heart. He tried to speak, found that he couldn't, savored the feeling Kathleen gave him. He remained still and patiently waited for her to undo the bonds.

Kathleen brought good-feeling shivers down Ptolemy's spine. Briefly and somewhat ghostlike, he smiled. When Kathleen was finished, she bent down in front of him. She was perspiring slightly, and her breath was ragged. She had a deep cut on the right side of her forehead. She spoke. "Are you alright?"

In response, Ptolemy opened his mouth and tried to pull out whatever had been stuffed into it. He pulled it out, coughed, tried to moisten his mouth. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. Now c'mon, we have to go." Kathleen stood. Ptolemy tried to follow her, stumbled, fell. His body was still weak…_another _human characteristic. His head began to swim again.

"I can't!" He grunted in spite of himself.

"What? You have to." She took his harm gently, pulled him onto his feet again. She kept a firm hold on him. Her touch sent those exciting chills down his spine. "This place is gonna blow. We have to get out of here now!"

She started tugging him along, when Bartimaeus came to mind. "Where's Rekhyt?"

"He's fighting another djinni at the moment, but c'mon! There might be more. We need to get out of here."

"No!" Ptolemy stopped dead and pulled his arm back. Kathleen turned to face him. "I'm not leaving him."

"I honor your loyalty. But, Ptolemy…Look, I told him to forget about the djinn when he saw or heard us running out. And if you know Bartimaeus as well as I do, you'll know he's more of the run-and-shoot technique. He'll be fine as long as we get out of here A.S.A.P. The sooner the better."

Reluctantly, Ptolemy followed after her.

Once they found the exit, Kathleen placed her hand on the handle, turned back and called out for Bartimaeus. "Bartimaeus!" Then she snapped back around, pulled the door open, ran outside, still dragging Ptolemy along.

Ptolemy again hesitated. He himself turned around, called out; "Rekhyt!" and allowed Kathleen to pull him out of the place entirely.

They kept running until they were at least a hundred feet away. The building spontaneously combusted. "Rekhyt!" Ptolemy called out in anguish.

"No," Kathleen began softly. Ptolemy looked over to her. "He's still alive. I can feel it."

"What about your parents?"

"I told Bartimaeus to make sure they got out. I'm pretty sure they're fine." Kathleen bit her lower lip. Ptolemy knew she wasn't sure of their fate. He didn't press the matter further.

"What do we do now?" Ptolemy changed the subject.

"Wait for Bartimaeus to show up." In answer, a small black bird was thrown into the air when the building exploded for a second time. The bird flew into the sky, then landed a few feet off, and skidded over to their feet. "Bartimaeus!" Kathleen cried as she bent down to him. She held the little bird in her hands, blinked away tears. "Bartimaeus, are you alright?"

Bartimaeus moaned.

In response, Kathleen began the dismissal incantations. Little grey streaks came up from the ground and wrapped around Bartimaeus. Both were gone in an instant.

Wiping away tears, Kathleen stood and faced Ptolemy. "Well, it's just you and me, buddy."

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**A/n **

**If no one gets the thing with Ptolemy soon, I'm gonna freak! Next chapter Kitty. Yay Kitty! Wow…I must really be bored…**


	33. XXXIII: Kitty

**Chapter 33**

**Kitty **

"Then what do we do now?" Ptolemy asked her.

"I say we pay a little visit to Miss. Jane Farrar."

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Kitty and Ptolemy had stealthily sneaked into Farrar's study. They had pretended to be new servants that had been hired by Farrar. None of the servants objected or wanted to see papers. Kitty vaguely wondered why. Kitty and Ptolemy made their way to her study unharmed.

Along the way, Ptolemy had stopped several times to look at one of Farrar's glass pieces or Persian rugs. Eyes wide with wonder and awe, he subconsciously reached out to a glass vase. Beautiful flowers were inscribed on it, crawling around and up the body of the vase. The vase sparkled in the light.

Kitty looked over her shoulder when she noticed Ptolemy was no longer following her. She walked back to retrieve him and set her hand on his outstretched arm. They exchanged glances.

Ptolemy's looked made her excited. Being able to touch him set shivers down her spine. She could feel herself blush. "Don't touch that," she ordered, breaking the trance. Before Ptolemy could reel her back in, she looked away and set off again for Farrar's study. She knew she could get lost in those sea-green eyes in the blink of an eye. She could stare into them for hours…

Kitty broke through her thoughts when she reached the door of Farrar's study—she and Ptolemy had asked where to go when they first came in. Without knocking, Kitty entered Farrar's study.

Inside, everything was a mass. All of the pentacles were somehow destroyed and papers were everywhere. Farrar sure had changed.

But she wasn't here. The room was vacant. It was evident that she had at one point been in the room, but she wasn't now.

"She's not here," Kitty stated the obvious. "Let's go." She started to walk out of the room. Ptolemy followed after her without question.

Kitty walked across the hall to another door. This one had scratch marks near the knob. Kitty thought about it for a moment, decided to take a chance of going in. "Get behind me," she commanded Ptolemy. He did as he was told. Kitty grabbed the doorknob, turned it fast, and pushed the door opened as fast as she could. She supposed fear was starting to grab at her.

Inside was the same as the other room. But there were a few differences. There was a bed in this room, for one. Everything was broken in some way. Even the chandelier on the ceiling was smashed. Farrar was at the top corner of her bed—the only thing that _wasn't _broken in some way—whimpering and sobbing. _She _was a sight for sore eyes. Kitty instinctively grabbed Ptolemy's arm, kept him behind her, walked over to Farrar. "What's wrong?" she asked her.

Farrar whined at first, then answered, "Kitty, I'm _so, _so sorry."

"What?"

Farrar began to tear slightly. "It was me. I did it."

Kitty's brow furrowed. "Did what?"

Farrar gulped, wiped away tears. "I…I did it. I killed Mr. Button. It's my fault he's dead." Farrar shook her head. "I'm _so _sorry."

Kitty was—for a moment—stunned. But soon she regained her vigor. "You _what_?" She shouted as she lunged for Farrar. But before she could hit her mark, Ptolemy stopped her.

"Don't," he warned. "She didn't mean to and you know it. Besides, she's our only ally. We need her."

Slowly, reluctantly, Kitty backed off. She _hated _to back down from a fight or challenge. But oh well. Soon she'd get Farrar back, anyway.

"You have to help me," Farrar croaked. "Before I hurt anyone else. _Please!" _

Kitty looked over to Ptolemy. He was looking down on Farrar with genuine pity. He looked up to Kitty, sealing her in another stare.

The stare was beautiful, and sweet. It transfixed her, giving her the feeling that she was being hypnotized. But she enjoyed it nonetheless. She welcomed it. She could feel herself blush, but she wasn't embarrassed. Instead, she smiled and looked at him, studying him. He had a good build…

"We have to help her," Ptolemy broke through the trance. It was funny, really. He didn't know how affective his stares were. "She needs us." _God, _he had _such _a beautiful voice… "Kitty?"

Kitty jumped ever-so-slightly and blinked. "Yes, alright. We'll help her." Ptolemy nodded. Both looked down on the pitiful sight that was Jane Farrar. She had fallen asleep. She looked as though she was trapped in a nightmare. No doubt she was.

Ptolemy's gaze met hers again. Again, Kitty got the sensation. She felt as though she was quickly sinking in quicksand. But she enjoyed the sensation, welcomed it. It was a feeling of floating and sinking at the same time. And she loved it.

Kitty began to daydream.

She imagined herself sitting by the Nile's coast with Ptolemy sitting next to her. The sun was rising this time. It gave the water a purple-pink color. The sun was half over the horizon. Waves sparkled in its light. Everything was silent; beautiful.

The sun's first rays bounced off Ptolemy's gleaming eyes. They were lit with excitement His hair glistened beautifully. He gave a charming smile and brushed back his bangs.

They began to lean in closer when—

"Kitty," Ptolemy broke through the silence and brought Kitty back to reality. "You've fallen silent again."

"I…I have? Oh, I hadn't noticed. I do that a lot, you'll find." She stopped for a moment, allowing everything to come back to her. "What do we do now?"

Ptolemy shrugged. "This is your time. I'm a…foreigner here."

Kitty thought for a moment, and in the process, trying to bring back that daydream and the sensations Ptolemy gave her. But all she managed was a heart flutter. "I…think the best thing to do would to get more books on summoning human spirits."

Ptolemy simply nodded. _That's not like him. _Kitty thought. _Bartimaeus always said he always asked questions. His mind is on something else…_Kitty blushed when she thought of what Ptolemy could be thinking about.

"C'mon," Kitty began. "we need to go to Mr. Button's."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**I _do _hope someone gets the little messages in these chapters. They're really important to understanding the story. Say what you think. **


	34. XXXIV: Ptolemy

**Chapter 34 **

**Ptolemy **

Why was Ptolemy so silent when he was around Kathleen? Sometimes it even got to the point where he couldn't speak. He honestly didn't know why he was this way. And what was that weird feeling she gave him? It his heart race, his cheeks blush, and made him feel as though he was flying, but sinking at the same time. He felt so nervous when around her. He had never experienced a feeling such as this before.

There it was again. Feeling. He wasn't supposed to have those anymore. He was supposed to be a spirit. And spirits don't have feelings of any kind.

But that was the least of his worries. He hardly thought about it at all.

Kathleen was a natural born leader, Ptolemy could see that. Her black hair bounced and flowed behind her as she walked. Her eyes were like a window; Ptolemy could always see her every emotion.

She was like a jewel, plain and simple.

Too bad they could never be.

They couldn't be, right?

Maybe they could…If there was a will there was a way. He had shown that to Bartimaeus himself.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ptolemy sighed as he focused on what he was doing. He stayed close to Kathleen, making certain he didn't stray from her path. He tried his hardest not to drift into another daydream.

Eventually, he and Kathleen had made it out of the mansion. Kathleen closed the door behind him and walked out to the sidewalk. Ptolemy followed after her.

Kathleen seemed to be looking around for something. "What are you looking for?" He asked her.

"I'm trying to figure out how to get to Mr. Button's house from here. But I only know one way to it, and the starting point for it has got to be at least two miles off." She was answering him subconsciously.

Ptolemy thought for a moment. "Just follow your instincts."

Kathleen hesitated for a moment. "My instincts are telling me to go to Whitehall first, since I know how to get to Mr. Button's from there. But it'll take all day just to get to Whitehall."

"Let's go to Whitehall then." Kathleen looked over to him for a moment, her facial expression questioning him. "Stop thinking logically and start thinking with your heart," He told her.

Kathleen gave him another questioning look for a moment, then sighed and said, "Alright Ptolemy. We'll go to Whitehall. Follow me, and stay close."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

And he made sure to do that. London was a crowded place. People pushed and shoved by, some making others fall. Ptolemy stayed close to Kathleen. They came to a stop when it was too dark to see. They had stopped between two buildings; in front of an alley.

Ptolemy looked around. Little red spheres hovered above every doorway. Vigilance Spheres. Those, however, weren't what interested him. What _really _interested him were the bright glowing letters and figures. He felt himself attracted to them as he was attracted to the glass vases in Jane Farrar's estate.

Kathleen had sneaked up behind him and stood on his right side. She tried to find whatever it was he was looking at. "What are you staring at?" She asked finally.

Ptolemy pointed to one of them. "What _are _those things?"

"Those are neon signs. They run on electricity and…" Her voice drifted off when she noticed Ptolemy was totally lost. "Oh, it doesn't matter now. C'mon, we gotta find some shelter for the night."

Just as they began to leave, someone spoke to them. "Clara? Clara, is that you?"

Kathleen turned around to face a man. He was bald and heavily built. "George? The manager of the Frog Inn?"

"Yes!" The man boomed. He seemed excited. Ptolemy didn't trust him one bit. He knew people like this back in his lifetime. They seemed friendly enough on the outside, but on the inside they really hated you and were working against you. "Good to see you, Clara," The man continued. "What are you doing back here anyway?"

"Well, my friend and I are sort of…in a ditch. We need a place to stay for the night." _Don't take anything he offers, _Ptolemy mentally pleaded with her. He knew this setup well enough. The man would gladly take the both of them in since he was supposed to be Kathleen's friend, then when they were least expecting it, he'd attack.

"Come in, come in!" The man—George—walked back into the building, the Frog Inn.

Kathleen turned to Ptolemy. She seemed to read his thoughts. "Don't worry, Ptolemy, I know this guy. You can trust him." She turned back around and began to walk into the Inn. _Not for long, _Ptolemy thought to himself. _She'll find out soon enough. _He walked inside without a word.

Ptolemy was, however, slightly confused. Her name was Kathleen, or Kitty. Where'd Clara come from? Ptolemy made sure to ask her later. With some reluctance, Ptolemy kept his mouth shut.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**George has appeared! What is his significance to the story, you may ask? Read on and find out! **


	35. XXXV: Ptolemy

**Chapter 35 **

**Ptolemy **

Inside, the Inn was full of people. They all seemed to know Kathleen well. Ptolemy wondered how long she had worked here.

George showed Ptolemy and Kathleen to their room. The room had two separate beds and was fairly large so the two of them could have their space. The room was nice; it seemed like one someone would call home for a few days. All in all, it looked comfortable and inviting…

Ptolemy noticed that the back of his knees where aching; along with his thighs and feet. He had never walked so far before. He usually stayed in one place back in Alexandria; he wasn't a drifter.

Wait, _pain. _That was another thing that spirits weren't supposed to experience. Why was all of this happening?

Ptolemy broke through his thoughts. "Should I summon Rekhyt?"

"Not now. Everyone downstairs hates magicians; even the good ones. Besides, Bartimaeus needs more rest then just a day." She stopped, pulled nightgown from a dresser drawer, turned to him. "I'll be in that room over there," she pointed to it. It was near the back of the room. "Stay away from the windows and doors; keep they covered. Call me if you need me, alright?"

Ptolemy nodded. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."

"Alright," Kathleen nodded and departed.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Ptolemy gave a heavy sigh and collapsed upon one of the beds. He closed his eyes and savored the comfortable cotton. Somewhere off in the distance, water poured onto plastic.

But Ptolemy barely heard it. He was slipping away to the Dream World.

_His dream was more of a memory mixed with a fantasy. He was looking out his favorite window back in Alexandria like he always used to. His head on his hands…He stared out onto the plains below. _

_But then, Kathleen walked over to his right side. He turned to face her. Their lips met, intentionally. They stuck for a moment, before they were interrupted when Bartimaeus slammed through the door. _"Aw, how sweet," _He said to them as he smiled. _"But we have more important things to do. You _are _the King and Queen of Egypt now…"

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**A/n **

**Written because people are wondering if Ptolemy feels the same way about Kitty. And yes, he does. It's like the perfect couple! **


	36. XXXVI: Kitty

**Chapter 36 **

**Kitty **

As the water coursed down her body, Kitty began to think about Ptolemy. His tan skin…His green eyes…Everything about him was perfect.

He was better then Nathaniel.

And for the better, too. Ptolemy cared about everyone, including beings from another world. He had cared about those other beings so much that he actually bonded with one of them and gone to their world, just because he was curious. Nathaniel had _originally _cared about people—as Bartimaeus claimed—but then he had gone to being like any other magician. Power had corrupted his mind. Just as Bartimaeus said it would.

Ptolemy summoned djinn just to learn. Another thing she had in common with him. Both summoned djinn for information, and neither used discipline. They had so much in common.

Then, another thought struck her. What would Bartimaeus _say _to all this?

But then again, it didn't really matter to her. She was in love, and there was nothing Bartimaeus could say to stop that.

But the sad thing was, they could never be. Right? Of course not. Ptolemy was just a spirit, summoned to Earth from the Spirit World. Just like a djinni. They couldn't be together like that until she died. And she wasn't planning on it anytime soon.

_But why was his essence golden when Nathaniel's was silver? It seems too much of a conspiracy to be just because Ptolemy's an older spirit. _Kitty thought to herself. Had she made a crucial pronunciation error somewhere? She couldn't recall.

With these thoughts in her mind, Kitty turned the water off and got her nightgown on. It was similar to one of the older hospital gowns. It was pink and had pink frills around the top of her breasts.

Bad. She had to wash her clothes. She didn't have anything to wear underneath the nightgown. But it didn't really matter; Ptolemy wasn't a pervert.

When she was ready, Kitty left the bathroom.

Kitty walked over to her dresser and set her clothes down on it. She'd wash them later. She looked over to Ptolemy. He was sleeping on his bed. _Sleeping? _Kitty thought to herself. _Spirits don't need to sleep._ "Ptolemy?" She said quietly. She walked over to him.

All of her senses urged her to tough him; kiss him. She longed to meet those lips, slightly tanned by the Egyptian sun. Kitty reached out to Ptolemy, bit her lower lip. _What are you doing? _Her conscience asked her. Kitty answered it by dropping her arm to her side. She really didn't know what she was doing. She sighed and began to walk away. "Ptolemy," She said loudly as she began walking away.

Ptolemy stirred, moaned. "What?" He was still tired. Kitty could hear it in his voice. And the fact that he yawned.

"I need your clothes."

"What?"

Kitty laughed a little. She turned to him. His eyes were wide with bewilderment. He was sitting upright now. "I'm going to wash our clothes."

"What am I supposed to wear?"

"There's a pair of pajamas in your dresser. You can wear those."

Ptolemy hesitated. "Alright. Can I change in the bathroom?"

"Of course."

Ptolemy nodded, got his clothes, tiredly made his way to the bathroom.

Kitty wearily watched him go. She longed for that floating sinking feeling he gave her when he stared. Again, all she got was a heart flutter.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

When Ptolemy returned, Kitty took his cloths and bundled them with hers. "Stay here, alright? I'm going to put these in the wash. We can wear this stuff until our actual clothes are finished."

"Can't I come with you?" Ptolemy looked and sounded so much like a child just then that she couldn't say no.

"Alright. Follow me." Kitty walked away. Ptolemy followed after her.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**Yup. Next chapter is Ptolemy…That's about it…Okay……….**


	37. XXXVII: Ptolemy

**Chapter 37 **

**Ptolemy **

After Kathleen put their clothes in the big white box thing, they left for their room.

By the time they got back, both were in high spirits. They had a plan and a backup one ready for when they made it to Mr. Button's. Both felt they were reading to face whatever challenges came their way.

Kathleen opened the door to their room and walked inside. She held the door opened for Ptolemy. Her gave her his thanks and walked inside.

With some relief, he collapsed onto his bed. For the first time in about two thousands years, he was tired.

Kathleen yawned and sat at the edge of her bed. Ptolemy looked up to her from where he was laying. Her nightgown was _very _revealing and gave her a feeling of excitement. He tried to fight it down as best he could. He tried to make it look like he didn't notice.

"We should go to bed," Kathleen told him. "we've got a lot of walking to do tomorrow."

Ptolemy nodded and stifled a yawn. "We did a lot of walking today."

"And to think we're only about halfway there. But don't worry, I know where we are now. We'll reach Whitehall before dark tomorrow. Maybe even by teatime." Ptolemy remained silent. Kathleen broke the silence. "Well, goodnight then." Kathleen crawled to the top her bed and got under the covers. Ptolemy did the same. When he was ready, Kathleen turned off the light. "Goodnight, Ptolemy."

"Sleep well," He told her. And with that, she turned her back on him in the bed.

Ptolemy was restless. His mind was on Kathleen. He couldn't sleep. And from the sound of it, she couldn't either. "Kathleen," He began wearily.

"Yes?"

Ptolemy faced Kathleen and propped himself up on his arm. "How did you summon Rekhyt and myself if you're a commoner?"

Kathleen was on her back, staring up to the ceiling. "All magicians start out as commoners. All you need is the proper education. I managed to get it five years ago."

"Oh. Well, goodnight." Ptolemy fell back onto his back and stared up to the ceiling as Kathleen was. He closed his again and tried to sleep. Half his mind was trying to sleep, but the other half was buzzing as it racked up questions.

"Ptolemy," Kathleen started.

"Yes?"

"What is life in Egypt like?"

"It was beautiful," Ptolemy kept his eyes closed so he could picture it. "People were always needing something, though. And while I was busy, I sent Rekhyt out to do what I couldn't. But I'm sure you're more interested in the scenery. I personally loved it. The sand dunes off in the distance outside of town went on for miles. But my favorite part of all was the Nile. I loved how it glistened in the sunlight when the sun set and rose. It always seemed beautiful and inviting. It always looked clean, too. I wish I got a chance to enjoy it. I always stayed indoors, so I guess it was my own fault. Oh well."

Kathleen cooed in interest. "I'd love to go there someday. Sounds nice."

"It is."

Ptolemy and Kathleen continued to talk like this until the sun came up. Only then did they fall asleep.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**Just an alternative chapter. **


	38. XXXVIII: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 38 **

**Bartimaeus **

I was summoned. And not by Kitty or Ptolemy, either.

Nope, I was summoned by someone else. That someone was a tall, muscular man. He had the bartender type look to him.

Funny. He didn't look like a magician at all. No lenses, no other slaves…The man broke my concentration. "Tell me your name, demon."

Oh great. A newbie. A choose that deep voice that I had used on Nathaniel when I first met him. The on that made the hairs on the back of your neck stand up on end. "You know full well what my name is."

That surprised him. To see a cloud(1) talking as though it was a full grown man. I can at least say he wasn't expecting it. Damn, it's so fun to mess with people.

The man picked himself up. "You're right, demon. I know what your name is."

I sighed warily. "Get on with it! What's my charge?"

"I charge you to keep a close watch on a girl in my inn She's in room—"

I cut him off. "Hold on a minute there! Do you have any idea who you're talking to? I am Bartimaeus of Urk! Sakhr-Al-Jinni! N'gorso the Mighty! The Serpent of Silver Plumes! I have rebuilt the walls of Urk, Karnak, and Prague! I'm a fourth level djinni and you're sending me off to be a _spy_? You could've made a Scrying Glass for that! I've fought and won against Farqual of Sparta! I've spoken with Ptolemy and Solomon! Now answer me this, pathetic human, who are _you _to subject me to such work?"

Impressive stuff, eh? It had been a long while since I'd gotten to do that, and I must admit it felt good. And from the looks on the bartender's face, I had gotten to him. But he recollected himself and said, "I am your master! You must obey me! And I order you to spy on two people that dwell within room two. Now go!"

First dismissal. My bowels began to sting. I remained where I was and looked around for signs of a name.

The idiot! He had a _nametag _pinned to his shirt! It read: George. Frog Inn Manager and Chief Bartender. Wonderful. Now that I knew his name(2) the pain in my bowels ceased. He couldn't hurt me whatsoever.

"What are you doing? Go!"

Second dismissal, but no pain.(3)

I decided to be difficult.

I stretched, yawned, changed to Ptolemy's form, sat down within the pentacle and made myself comfortable. "I don't feel like it. Why don't you ask me later?"

George growled, pulled something from his neck, chucked it at me.

I was too slow and couldn't dodge it. And lucky me, it was pure silver. It cut straight through the essence that made up my right arm. I cried out. "Now _that _isn't fair!"

"Then go!"

"Alright, alright. I'm goin'." I left. No reason to stay any longer.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

(1) That was my form, a puff of smoke.

(2) And it was his birth name, too. No magician would work as a bartender. This is all very interesting. More commoners were learning how to summon djinn. England would surely fall in another few years.

(3) Except with the usual summoning pain.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**Who's in room 2? Seriously, who do you think? Next chapter Bartimaeus. Yay, he's back! **


	39. XXXIX: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 39 **

**Bartimaeus **

Alright. Room two. Well, on the bright side, at least I wouldn't have to go into a battle or anything serious.

My new form—a spider—crawled underneath the door. The spider looked around.

Bad.

Well, on the darker side of things, the girl I had to spy on was Kitty.

But then again, George didn't give any restrictions. He never said I couldn't tell her. Hmm, I think I will.

The spider crawled over to Kitty's bed, crawled to the top, rested at its foot. The spider was replaced by a cat. It had emerald green eyes and midnight black fur. It belonged to Ptolemy once. He called it Anubis(1). Again, don't ask why.

I 'slept' on the bed until Kitty and Ptolemy awoke.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Maybe that wasn't the greatest idea ever.

When Kitty awoke to find a foreign cat sleeping on her bed, she screamed. Ptolemy bolted upright. "What? Who? Where? Why?" He shouted out in rapid succession.

Kitty swat at the cat. It hissed and drew back. "Alright now," I began. "No need to start throwing things."

"Bartimaeus?" Kitty asked. "But…"

"You're alive!" Ptolemy shouted happily. I looked over to him, smiled the best a cat could, nodded.

"Who summoned you?" Kitty asked seriously. I turned to her.

"Some guy named George."

"George? Wait, what'd he look like?" I concentrated, took his shape. "George!" Kitty yelled angrily. "We have to do something!"

"I knew it," I heard Ptolemy mumble to himself. Kitty couldn't hear, but with my better-advanced hearing, I could. I didn't say anything about it.

"We have to get out of here," I said as I reverted to Ptolemy's form. "But when I say 'we' I mean you two. I'm stuck with him."

"Not for long," Kitty began. "I'm goin' to get our clothes."

She practically stormed out of the room, leaving me alone with Ptolemy.(2)

Ptolemy sighed, fell over onto his back, stared up to the ceiling. He uncovered himself and moved to the edge of the bed, hung most of his body over it and looked up to the ceiling. He was quiet for a moment. "How long has it been?" He asked softly.

I climbed onto the bed, laid down next to him in the same position he was. I was silent for a moment, calculating. "Two thousand, one hindered thirty-four years, 7 months, 24 days, 12 hours, 10,349,90 seconds."

Faintly, Ptolemy smiled. We both sighed in unison. "Too long." I whispered, hoping he hadn't heard.

But he did. He responded by looking at me—studying me—and smiling. He nodded.

"Do you," I began softly, like a child speaking of death and abandonment. I stopped for a moment, thinking of how to word it. I looked him in the eyes. "Do you remember the Other Place?"

"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I? I loved it. I remember it as though it was yesterday. I remember everything so clearly," That relieved me but also worried me. Why was he remembering his past so well if he's supposed to be a spirit? I raced my mind on all seven conscious planes, trying to come up with an answer.

"The Afterlife?" I asked him. This he should remember much of.

Ptolemy fell silent, thinking. He seemed to concentrating hard. "I used to remember it, at first. But the memories are slowly slipping away. It's getting harder and harder to recall…" His voice slipped away in thought.

Hmm. Something here isn't right. Ptolemy is supposed to be a spirit. He should remember more of the afterlife and less of his actual life. But it's vice-versa, as though he never died.

Something isn't right here.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

(1) Mentioned this cat before, remember?

(2) Talk about awkward.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**Well…Yup. There's chapter 39. Holy crap that's a lot…Next chapter Ptolemy. **


	40. XL: Ptolemy

**Chapter 40**

**Ptolemy **

More of those weird sensations. Ptolemy's stomach felt—there it is again—as though it was tied in a knot. It caused his mouth to water. What was it? He had felt it at Kathleen's home with her mother as well. His stomach made a gurgling noise. Was that…hunger? Again? It was just like when he was alive. He needed to eat to survive.

Ptolemy looked into Bartimaeus' eyes. They were practically dancing with joy. That was odd for him. But then, he had counted the time had has died down to the last second.

Djinn were so intelligent, so capable of doing such amazing things. And magicians _still _treat them as slaves.

And it was spreading to the commoners.

_Commoners! _

Ptolemy had nothing against them—he didn't think being a magician meant he was better then them—but it was so amazing that they could summon a djinni all on their own.

And Kathleen had been the inspiration. A sort of teacher that nudged the other commoners on; encouraged them to regain control in the government.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Something pounded in Ptolemy's head. It focused at the top of his skull, and seemed to slam against his forehead. He started to hear that same force pounding in his ears.

The pain became too much to bear. Ptolemy sat upright. That was worse then before. Every ounce of that force was now leaving his head in rapid succession. It made his head spin. It took him a moment to ready himself.

"You okay?" A voice asked. Bartimaeus.

"Yeah," Ptolemy managed. "I'm fine. Just a little dizzy," Even to himself, something seemed wrong. He had started getting feelings a few hours after he had been summoned. Had something gone wrong? He wasn't sure; Kathleen had succeeded in an area that he had never attempted. But there was always a possibility.

"Dizzy?" Bartimaeus repeated.

_Bartimaeus? _

That was the djinni's _real _name, but didn't Ptolemy always call him Rekhyt? He knew he did when he spoke, but he wasn't so sure about when he thought. Everything was so confusing. Why, he wasn't sure. "Yes," Ptolemy managed to reply. "Sitting like that for so long made all the blood rush to my head."

Bartimaeus—_no, Rekhyt, _Ptolemy thought to himself—fell silent, grew a thinking look on his face. He was questioning himself why Ptolemy was having actual feelings again. Ptolemy was asking himself the same thing.

Kathleen—no, _Kitty_—returned with a bundle of clothes in her arms. "I'm back!" She announced, almost happily. "Here's your er…cloth Ptolemy." She tossed it to him. He caught it. "You can change now."

"Ladies first," Ptolemy answered, almost automatically. His manners hadn't changed.

Kitty smiled fondly. "Thank you," she said sweetly. She hurried past him and into the bathroom.

Rekhyt was still silent, deep in his thoughts. Ptolemy didn't blame him. Everything seemed to have a question left unanswered. So many things left undiscovered…

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ptolemy let his mind slip to Kitty. She was the _only _person to go to the Other Place; the only person to follow in his footsteps. It was sad, really. No other magician was brave enough to followed after him. And Kitty was a commoner. She was something special.

Ptolemy's thoughts were broken when Kitty reentered the room with her normal clothes on. "I'm done," It was hard to tell who she was speaking to exactly. "You can go change now, Ptolemy."

Her voice was so smooth, soft, and caring. She was like the mother he never had. She was perfect. Even her flaws made her beautiful. Everything about her was…angelic. She fought for what she believed was right; even though she sometimes stood alone. It didn't matter to her, though. She was so different from most people. And for the better, too.

Rekhyt broke his thoughts. "Oh, Kitty, I got this for you." He pulled a book out of his guise and handed it to her. How it stayed when he went back to the Other Place, Ptolemy wasn't sure.

Kitty smiled fondly. "For me? Really?" She took it, opened it, scanned the pages. "Where'd you get it?"

"Mr. Button's place. He's got a lot of books."

"Yeah." Kitty nodded in agreement. She started to read it fully. All was silent for a moment.

Kitty gasped, looked up to Ptolemy, back to the book. Her eyes widened as she continued reading. She gave a final gasp and dropped the book. She stared into Ptolemy's eyes. "Ptolemy," she breathed. "I didn't summon you," she shook her head to emphasize what she meant. "I _resurrected_ you."

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**Oooh, problem. Next chapter Kitty. **


	41. XLI: Kitty

**Chapter 41 **

**Kitty **

_Things are going from bad to worse. _Kitty thought after she made the announcement. She let her body fall backwards onto the bed and lost herself in thought.

Bartimaeus was on his foot in an instant. "You _what_?" He shouted.

Kitty closed her eyes and answered simply, "Out of all people—and djinn—I thought you'd enjoy Ptolemy being back."

That stunned him into silence.

Ptolemy was silent, too. Perhaps he was thinking it over. Kitty had given him a new life with his best friend; but still he said nothing.

Kitty herself was speechless. How could she screw up so badly like that? She must've skipped over it. And because of that lttle err, she had screwed up beyond repair. And worst of all, she brought Ptolemy back to life; mortally endangering him. What could she say to that? She supposed the best thing to do would be to keep quiet.

Bartimaeus was angry at her, too. Deep down inside he was eternally grateful to her—she could sense it. But she could also sense undeniable hatred. By resurrecting Ptolemy she had endangered his one and only friend. She had ripped the fabric of time; destroyed it by bringing Ptolemy back. He wasn't meant to be here; yet she had brought him here.

Why? Because she wanted to impress Bartimaeus. She wanted to prove to him that she wasn't like magicians but she could do what they did.

She had put all three of them in danger, just to prove what she could do.

What had she proved? She proved that she always got her way. Not that she could use magic for the better. No, she had proved that she didn't care what happened to other people; it was what _she _got that mattered.

She was just as good as any other magician.

Kitty sat up on her bed and stared into Ptolemy's eyes. Her own filled with tears. "Ptolemy, I am _so _sorry." She shook her head slightly and forced the tears back. She turned to Bartimaeus. "Magic is a powerful tool. I'm no better then any other magician. I'm sorry."

She waited a moment, stood, hurried out of the room.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kitty burst into tears the minute the door behind her was closed. Her own words had shocked her; she hadn't thought about what she was going to say. She guessed they hit her harder then they did Bartimaeus or Ptolemy. With magic comes power. With power comes lust and devotion. She really _was _as bad as any other magician. She overused her magic for show. She wanted to be on Bartimaeus' good side, so she did what she thought would work. She summoned Ptolemy just for popularity.

She was just as low as Farrar. And _that _was the lowest of the low.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Kitty sighed as she continued to walk. She had forgotten all about George.

George stepped in front of her. "Hello, Kitty."

She was so sidetracked that she wasn't thinking of her false identity. "Hey." She had completely forgotten about Clara Bell, the person she was supposed to be around here. She started to walk away, but again George stepped in front of her.

"I thought your name was Clara."

Kitty stopped dead, looked up to George. "Er…Kitty's my nickname."

"Is it? Interesting." Out of the corner of her eye, Kitty saw George take a knife off the nearby table. "Kitty," George continued as he hid the knife behind himself and started to walk around the table. "I know what you've been up to. I've sent a spy to your room."

Kitty was circling the table now, too. Her Resistance battling techniques were coming back to her. A strange thought suddenly hit her. Why where there no customers at midday? What was going on here?

As she circled the table, trying to avoid George, she passed another table. While doing so, she took a knife off the table casuilly and slyly. George hadn't noticed. She was ready for anything George could throw at her.

"Yes," she began. "I know you've sent a _djinni_ to my room. He's already revealed himself. I know him. I'm one step ahead of you."

"On the contrary," George began. "I'm two steps ahead of you. Why do you think I summoned Bartimaeus? I _knew _you know him. That's exactly why I assigned him to the job. I _knew _he'd tell you I'd summoned him and why. It was all part of my plan to get the both of you here, but torn apart. Now your only ally is being forced to work against you. Face it, you're alone."

"If you've been watching me as closely as you say you have, then you'd know that I have another ally. Two, actually. Two _magicians. _And very powerful magicians."

"You mean that half-breed Farrar? She's not very powerful, if you ask me…"

"Which I'm not."

"…Besides, I've got her all taken care of. I've got her djinni on my side, too. Face it, _Kitty_, you're defenseless. There's _nothing _you can do to stop me."

"Why are you doing this?" Kitty cried.

"One simple word, Kitty: Power. Commoners like us need more power in the government. Commoners like us need more power in anything we do. And the djinni I've befriended, his name is Barloa. And his master, Jane Farrar, is loosing control over him. As she slips into becoming a werewolf more and more, Barloa is given more and more freedom. He found and came to me willingly. He's been on my side all along. He'll have a seat in Parliament."

"George, did I ever tell you how crazy you are? What's happened to you?"

George seemed to ignore her comment and question. "Kitty, come with us! You can have whatever you want! Riches, fame, your own continent, even! How could you ever decline such an offer? To have riches beyond your wildest dreams…" His voice drifted off, let the image hang.

Kitty licked her lips as if with interest. But what she really was doing was thinking of a way to escape without anyone getting hurt and getting Ptolemy at the same time. Her fists clenched around the butt of her knife. She was clenching it so tightly the texture of it made small imprints in her palm. Her mouth felt as if there was a cotton ball in it, her throat the same way. She found she couldn't swallow. Her heart was pumping adrenaline through her system, making her jittery all over. She took a deep breath through her noise, let it out through her mouth. It didn't help at all. "Your plan is good, George. But I know you're working for someone. Who?"

"I work for no one." He told her simply.

Kitty nodded. "Alright then." She screamed, lunged forward, knife at the ready. She was in control at first, but George was too strong for her. He was on top of her in a matter of minutes. Her knife was useless—George had taken it from her and thrown it aside, out of reach. She had managed—with a good struggle—to take his and throw it out of reach as well. Now it was a full-fledged fist fight. She could take him on now.

George's fingers tightened around Kitty's throat. They were so tight it made her neck seem fight. Her neck soon turned blood red, and her head started to pound.

Kitty slammed her hands onto George's and tugged at them. But it was no use; George's grip was too tight. Her head felt as though it would explode. Almost instinctively, she began to call for Bartimaeus. "B-B…Ba," but the word stuck in her mouth. "Bartimaeus," she croaked.

"Calling for the help of a demon?" George taunted. "He isn't even on your side. Pathetic." His fingers tightened around her neck.

The word filled in her lungs, bit at her tongue. Kitty opened her mouth, got as much air as George would allow, prepared her throat. "Bartimaeus!" She screamed. It came out this time. She was sure Bartimaeus had heard her. After all, he had better hearing then any human. Kitty let out the loudest, shrillest scream she could make. Hopefully Bartimaeus would put two and two together.

Again, Kitty readied herself for a scream. But instead of Bartimaeus, Ptolemy filled her mouth, lungs, mind. Again she took a big breath and let out another scream. "Ptol—" But she couldn't finish the rest. George covered her mouth. Her kneed her in the pit of her stomach, taking whatever little air she had left. She grunted in pain as the air rushed out of her.

Tears ran down her cheek as reality hit her. She was going to die.

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**A/n**

**Check it out! Like ten chapters in one weekend! You guys better be happy! And is Kitty going to die? I'll write eventually. XD Cliffie for you. **


	42. XLII: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 42 **

**Bartimaeus **

The first scream should've been enough. But no, Ptolemy and I froze and waited for the blood curling scream. _Then _we ran out of the room and downstairs to the bar.

Pandemonium was obvious. Several tables were tipped over, and right in the mass of it was my master and Kitty, fighting like wolves. Kitty looked over my way and caught my eye for a moment. She had a stern but pleading look to her eyes. But she soon looked away and turned back to George. She let go of his hands and grabbed hold of his neck. Her thumbs pushed down as hard as they could into his air pipe and esophagus.

George wailed and socked Kitty in the stomach. She was winded. She fell limp, gasping for air. She caught herself faster then George thought she would and again clenched down on his throat, only tighter then before.

George responded by grunting and gripping Kitty's throat tighter. She let out every last bit of air she had in a squeal. She looked over to me again, the look in her eyes genuine plead.

But then, her squirming ceased. Kitty went limp. Her eyes rolled to the top of her head, her arms fell to the ground. For a moment, everything was silent.

But then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that Ptolemy was missing. My eyes darted back and forth, looking for him. Where was he? There was no sight of him.

Ah, there he was. Off to my left side, out of the shadows. He must've hid there for the time being. He was only a few feet away from George, whom was still choking an already dead Kitty. He bent down a little, ready to spring.

In a split second, Ptolemy sprang and tackled George off Kitty. "Get off her!" He shouted as they both fell to the ground, going at it as Kitty had with George. I realized then that if Kitty couldn't handle George, Ptolemy would never be able to. He wasn't a fighter; he couldn't hold his own for long. But I was bound to George's will; there was nothing I could do to help Ptolemy or Kitty.

I decided to break the rules a bit, since George never told me not to interfere with his plans. While the two of them were busy, I casually walked over to Kitty, so as not to draw attention to myself. Kitty's body was lifeless. I bent down to her, checked her neck and wrists for a pulse. There was none.

I placed my hands on her chest, just below the breasts. I tried my most powerful Restorant on her. (1) Nothing happened, but I continued on. Maybe there was still something I could do.

Nothing happened. Kitty remained still. She was gone.

But wait; there was still one option left.

I moved my hands to either sides of her heart, waited about five seconds, gave her a small Electro. Her body lurched. It took my hands away and checked her pulse. Still nothing.

Again, I put my hands on either side of her heart and gave her another Electro, this one stronger then the last. Kitty's body gave another lurch upward. I removed my hands entirely from her body and checked her pulse.

It was weak, but it was there.

It was there.

Kitty was going to live.

George rushed past me. The tug on my essence started to lift. The Other Place started to welcome me. But—for only the second time in my life—I rejected it. I couldn't leave Kitty now, she needed me. I stayed with her until the tug the Other Place was giving me was too strong to bear. I reluctantly let my essence soften and left.

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(1) Too weak wouldn't affect her because of her resilience.

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**A/n **

**Kitty lives! Yay. And the best part is Bartimaeus saved her. Hmm…Maybe it would've been better—not to mention more romantic—if Ptolemy saved her. But then again, he fought off George. Sooo….Uh! I can't think strait. Wait…I never do. **


	43. XLIII: Ptolemy

**Chapter 43 **

**Ptolemy **

The man known as George ran out of the building and dismissed Rekhyt. Both were gone now. Everything was quiet.

Ptolemy walked over to Kitty and knelt down beside her. He was woozy for some reason, but he willed the feeling away. Kitty was more important. Ptolemy examined her. Her body was lifeless; she wasn't moving at all. Ptolemy's heart began to race. Had George killed Kitty? And if so, what was Ptolemy going to do all on his lonesome? Kitty had never kept her records of how to summon—or resurrect—the dead, so he'd be all alone. Except, unless, he summoned Rekhyt. But what could the two of them do? Without Kitty they were helpless. Ptolemy checked for Kitty's pulse, praying to Ra that it'd be there.

Ptolemy sighed with relief. It was weak, but it was there. Kitty was going to live. Rekhyt must've saved her while he was busy with George. Kitty coughed new air into her lungs, slowly opened her eyes. "Ptolemy?" She said weakly, as though she was being woken from a deep sleep. "Oy," She rubbed her head. "What happened?" She tried to sit up, but Ptolemy stopped her. He rested his hand on her shoulder. She studied him for a moment, laid back down.

"You were fighting with George," he answered her softly. "He almost choked you to death. It's a good thing Rekhyt and I were here. Rekhyt saved you."

"Right. Where's he now?"

"Rekhyt? George dismissed him shortly after he ran off."

Kitty nodded, stayed silent. After a minute or two, she spoke up. "C'mon, Ptolemy, you can't tell me you didn't do _anything _while you were down here."

Ptolemy's cheeks got hot. "I didn't do anything," he insisted. This was pretty much the first time he'd ever saved someone else's life without the help of a djinni.

Kitty smiled. "That's why you're bleeding, right?"

"What?" That would've explained that woozy feeling and that warm ooze dripping down his face on the left side, a few inches above the ear.

"C'mon, let's go get cleaned up." Ptolemy allowed Kitty to stand, helped her up. She swayed for a moment, quickly regained her balance. "Follow me." She started to walk away. Ptolemy quickly followed after her.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Ptolemy followed Kitty to some sort of bathroom. But everything was so…different then what he was accustomed to.

The thing that Kitty called the 'toilet' was a weird circle with a rectangle attached to its back. That rectangle thing had a sort of silver handle on it which was pushed down.

The thing that Kitty called a 'sink' was another rectangle thing. But it was connected to the wall. Underneath it was a tangled cylindrical shape that went from the sink wall. On top of the 'sink' were two silver things; two handles and one dispenser. 'Faucet', as Kitty called it.

Everything in this time was so odd.

Kitty grabbed a cloth and turned one of the handles on the 'sink'. Water poured out of the faucet! Amazing! Kitty wet the cloth, turned the handle the opposite way she originally did, squeezed out excess water from the cloth. She turned to Ptolemy. "This may sting a little," she warned.

Ptolemy nodded and readied himself. Kitty gently placed her right fingers on his left cheek and put the cloth on his cut. She was right; it stung. "Ah!" Ptolemy grunted. He didn't let anything else escape his mouth; he couldn't let Kitty see how weak he was.

"I told you it was going to sting," Kitty responded softly; her voice as soft as a mother's with a newborn baby. She removed the cloth, flipped it over to a clean side, dabbed it at the cut again. It must've been deeper then Ptolemy thought; he hardly felt it, though. This time it didn't sting as much.

Kitty repeated this another two times, then simply dabbed the wound repidedly.

"There," She said finally, her voice still soft…Nurturing. "Done."

Ptolemy brought his hand up to where the cut was, felt it, brought his fingers down back to his face, studied them. He had stopped bleeding and the cut didn't hurt. "Thanks," He made sure to show his gratitude. Kitty nodded and smiled. "What do we do now?"

"Summon Bartimaeus," was the simple answer.

"We can't stay here," Ptolemy told her. _Yes, _he told himself. _state the obvious. _

"That's true. But where else would we go?"

"We only know one other magician."

"Farrar!"

………………………………………………………………………………………………

When Ptolemy changed, the two of them set out for Jane Farrar's estate.

Kitty looked straight, her eyes never straying from their path. Ptolemy, however, couldn't help but look over to her. He couldn't get her out of his mind. As he thought about it, he found a name for the feeling: Love. He had hoped the two of them could be together, and they could now. He was a real person again. But then again, he was always a real person. No one had known it, though. So the two of them could've been together all along.

Ptolemy hoped that they _would _be one day. But he doubted it. Rekhyt was as protective as ever. But Ptolemy didn't mind. To see one person die for you when you knew you could save their life must've been pretty hard.

Rekhyt was the family Ptolemy never knew. Rekhyt _and _Kitty. Rekhyt was like a brother, and maybe even a father to him. Kitty was like a sister and a mother. Both were there to protect him, but there were also there to keep him in check. They protected him with their live. Rekhyt with his some five-thousand-year-old experience, and Kitty with her knowledge of defense, survival, moving on. Both had so much to offer him.

But what did Ptolemy have to offer _them_? Slim to nothing. Maybe knowledge from the books he'd read, but reading something in the theoretical world and actually living it in the real world were two entirely different things. He was hardly useful to them.

As though she could read his thoughts, Kitty spoke to him. "Ptolemy, I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I resurrected you instead of summoning you."

Ptolemy smiled. "What's so great about me?"

"I don't know. But I like you. A lot. You're the best magician I've ever known."

Ptolemy's cheeks got hot. "Thanks."

"Bartimaeus said you never used discipline. Ever."

"I didn't. I told him my birth name, too."

"Which is Ptolemy, right?"

Ptolemy nodded. "When I first summoned Bartimaeus, I felt I could confine everything about myself in him." He stopped for a moment. "And names mean little to me, so it never really mattered anyway."

"That's why you call Bartimaeus 'Rekhyt'?"

"That's right."

Kitty fell silent. Ptolemy resumed she was thinking about something. He let her alone; he knew she had a lot to think about.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Finally, after a long walk, Kitty had found the place. Ptolemy studied it. It was the same as before. It was a wide building. It had a wide staircase leading up to it that rivaled—almost beat—the one of the Alexandrian library.

Kitty sat down on the steps and looked up to him. She rested for a moment, gestured for him to sit down with her. With some nervousness, he sat on her right side.

"Don't your feet hurt?" She asked him with a playful smile.

Ptolemy waited for a moment, listening to the messages his legs were sending to him. At first there was nothing, but then his legs exploded with pain.

"Now that I'm off them!" He shouted playfully.

Kitty laughed. "Same here. Do you realize how far we've walked?" Ptolemy shook his head. "At _least _two miles."

"I'm not familiar with your system of measurement, but I'm guessing that's a long while."

Kitty nodded. "It is." She sighed; let her arms drop onto her thighs. "So," she breathed. "Ready to talk to the animal?"

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**A/n **

**(Sighs) Wow, here I am…writing this fic…for you people…Yeah…Next chapter Kitty. **


	44. XLIV: Kitty

**I know I've never given any warning for stuff like this before, but this is a high-rated T. This chapter really isn't suitable for the squeamish. **

**Chapter 44**

**Kitty**

"You shouldn't call her that," Ptolemy protested.

Kitty stood, kept her eye on him. "What do you want me to call her, Grand Poo-Bah?"

Ptolemy couldn't help but smile at Kitty's remark. "No, but you should at least show her a little bit of respect."

The two of them began the journey up the stairs. "Why? Why does she, of all people, deserve my respect? She's just like any other magician around here. They only want one thing; power. And they're reading to sacrifice anyone who gets in their way." When Ptolemy looked at her as though he was offended, she added, "People aren't the way they used to be. Magicians aren't like either of us. They don't…care…about anyone else. As long as they get what they want, nothing else matters."

Ptolemy nodded. "I see." His voice was so small, Kitty wanted to hold him close to her, say something reassuring.

"Ptolemy," she said as she stopped, turned, faced him. He looked over to her. "I'm sorry I was the only person to follow you. I'm sorry the world is so ignorant." Kitty closed her eyes and assed the rest softly, almost to herself. "There's so many things I'm sorry for."

"Don't be." The firmness of Ptolemy's voice made her open her eyes. "Everything in life has a reason. Why you accidentally resurrected me we may not know yet, but we will someday."

Kitty nodded, encouraged by his words. She turned to the door of Farrar's house, rammed the door. "Open up! I—er, _we_—need to speak with Jane Farrar!"

The door slowly opened a crack to reveal the face of Jane Farrar. From what Kitty could tell, she was a mess. Her entire face was a little distorted. Her hair was matted and tangled. She had a scar below her left eye that extended down to the top of her upper lip. She had deep bags under her eyes that made her skin seem ghostly white. Farrar also had a huge bruise on the right side of her cheek. It was purple around its outer edges, but was a sick yellow color in the inside. In the middle of that bruise was a deep cut. She was a mess, to say the least. "What do you want?" Her voice was hoarse, as though she was just about to loose it.

"We need your help." Was Kitty's weak answer.

"What happened to _your _helping _me_?"

"There's no 'I' in team." Kitty smiled. Farrar gave her an uninterested look. Kitty continued. "we've had a slight problem. You're the only magician we know and know we can trust. I need you to help me summon Bartimaeus."

"Your demon?" Kitty and Ptolemy both flinched at the word, as though it was them themselves she was degrading. "Why didn't you say so? Damn commoners never know how to get to the point of things…" Her voice drifted off as she opened the door.

Now that Kitty got a better look at Farrar, she got a better look at what she was wearing. Her outfit was casual; a white T-shirt with jeans. Both of them were torn, ripped, dirty. A patch above the jeans above her left knee was missing. She had more bruises on her arms and legs, too. Her shoes were more like sandals; her toes were exposed. Farrar's upper lip was swollen, too.

"What the hell happened?" Kitty spoke before she thought.

Farrar ignored the comment. "Well, are you two coming in or not? I've got no time for your ludicrousness. I'm a busy person, you know."

Kitty and Ptolemy walked inside. "Heh, not anymore." Ptolemy caught her eye and gave her a cold stare. Kitty blinked and looked away. Bartimaeus was right; Ptolemy _did _have incredible glances.

Again, Farrar ignored the comment. "Just be prepared for what you might see. Come with me to my room; it's safer there." Farrar walked away.

Kitty and Ptolemy followed after her. Under her breath, Kitty mumbled, "No where with you is safe." Either Farrar hadn't heard, or she again ignored the comment. Kitty didn't care either way.

Kitty's foot got caught on a string being pulled tightly across the floor. When she pulled her foot up, the top of a body swung down and almost crashed into her face. Thousands of flies scattered when the body moved. Kitty stared into the eyes of the corpse for a moment, frozen in fear. The milky look that covered them told Kitty the person had long been dead. Regaining control, she screamed, batted flies around her head, clumsily fell back. The flies were so many that their combined buzzes sounded more like a swarm of locusts.

Farrar and Ptolemy stopped and turned around to face her. Ptolemy covered his mouth in disgust, doubling over slightly, and turned away. Farrar, however, seemed unmoved. Her expression hadn't changed at all; she looked bored, uninterested.

"What the hell?" Kitty shouted when the flies started to return to their body.

"I told you to be prepared." Farrar said simply as she shoved the body back to its original resting place.

"You _sick _bitch." Farrar again ignored the comment. She moved off once again. Kitty collected Ptolemy and followed after Farrar.

Ptolemy managed to say something. "What's that smell?"

Now that Kitty thought about it, the place _did _smell; of rotten bleach. She vaguely wondered why it hadn't made her sick. "Yeah, Farrar, what's that smell?"

"The bodies started to smell and flies started to come in. I tried to drown them out with bleach but then that rotted, too."

Kitty bit her tongue. She could've said another rude comment, but she decided it was best not to. After all, Farrar could snap at any moment; Kitty wanted to stay as human as possible. She didn't want to end up a werewolf.

Kitty changed her thoughts and looked over to Ptolemy. Poor thing, he was dreadfully green. He looked as though he was about to throw up. She didn't blame him. After the body and the smell, she feared she'd loose herself if she saw something like that again. She had to fight down the urge to hold Ptolemy and comfort him. He reminded her so much of a little Resistance fighter she once knew. No one ever found the boy. Many guessed her was in the Tower, but for some reason Kitty doubted it. She hadn't lost hope in Jeremy. He'd find his way home one day. _Now's not the time for that. _She told herself. _We need to summon Bartimaeus, not romance. _

_Although romance with Ptolemy _would _be nice…_A voice in her head said to her.

_No, not now. _

_But you _know _you want him. _

_Well, maybe someday. _

And with that, the voice fell silent.

Finally, the three of them made it to Farrar's room. Well, the room she slept in and changed in. It was worse then the rest of the house. Blood was spattered everywhere. In some places it was one huge splatter, but in others it was a long line, like a drag line. But in some places it was only a few drops. It looked like there had been a long and painful struggle.

As Kitty got a better look, she found the body. It was a…man? The body was almost mutilated to the point of being in literal pieces. Everything was hanging on the cords of other things. It was like the body was relying on a string to hold it together. The face was ripped off—the bone, too—the extremities were hanging by a simple string of muscle, and the torso was ripped open. All of the organs inside were missing or severely severed. All except the heart. The heart was in perfect condition. Kitty shuddered when a thought hit her. Where was all the blood? There was none around the body. Had Farrar drunk the blood before ripping it open? Kitty shuddered again and looked away.

"Er, Jane, do you have a djinni employed?" Kitty asked her.

Farrar nodded. "Barloa. But as my condition grows worse, he gets more freedom. I can't order him anymore."

Kitty wanted to say something like, 'Serves you right', but she again bit her tongue. Farrar was lethal, and Kitty wanted to live. She remained silent.

"What happened here?" Ptolemy broke the silence. Kitty could tell it was his first time seeing a murder. _This ain't nothin'. _She thought to herself.

_He shouldn't be with you during birth of your child then. _The voice spoke to her.

_I don't want a child! _

_By Ptolemaeus, you do. _

_I don't! _

_You do. _

"Shut up!" Kitty hissed. Ptolemy and Kitty turned to face her. She blushed. "Oh, um…Never mind me." She gave a cheesy smile.

"It's getting worse," Farrar answered Ptolemy. "There's no hope for me now."

Ptolemy opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it. Kitty decided to say something for him. "That's destiny—fate, if you will—for you. But you're right. There's nothing we can do for you now."

"Where there's a will there's a way." Ptolemy said firmly. "You of all people, Kitty, should know that." He turned to Farrar. "We'll do everything we can."

Farrar sighed, collapsed to the ground on her knees. "Thank you. But let's just face it; there's no hope left for me. I'm left with an eternity of damnanation." She took a deep breath. "You might as well kill me now, get it over with."

"We're not going to do that," Ptolemy told her softly as he sat down next to her. "We're going to find a way to cure you."

Kitty got angry pangs when Ptolemy comforted Farrar like that. After all, it was just _Jane. _Why was she so special? Kitty herself summoned Ptolemy! She should've been the center of attention!

Kitty's sudden bad mood effected what she said next. "It's not as easy as it sounds, Ptolemy." Ptolemy looked up to her and gave her another stare. Again, she backed down. "I'll go summon Bartimaeus." She caved.

"I think there's one surviving pentacle in the other room," Farrar told her as she walked away.

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**A/n **

**Ooh. Can Farrar be saved? Is Kitty really that jealous about Ptolemy's comforting Jane? What will Bartimaeus think?! Next chapter coming soon! **


	45. XLV: Kitty

**Chapter 45 **

**Kitty **

Kitty ignored Farrar's comment as she walked away. The only thing she was really interested in was keeping Ptolemy from seeing her blush. She was supposed to be tough Resistance leader Kitty Jones! Not falling for someone who had been dead for over two thousand years. She was supposed to hate _all _magicians, including Ptolemy. But she didn't. She loved Ptolemy and she couldn't help it. Was it okay to love Ptolemy? Kitty wasn't sure.

As she drew out the pentacle, a thought passed through her mind. What would Bartimaeus say to all this?

One way to find out.

When Bartimaeus appeared in the pentacle, Kitty took a deep breath. He was in Ptolemy's form. Just seeing it made her nervous. "Hey, Kitty," He said.

It felt as though a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders. _Bartimaeus can _mirror _Ptolemy, _Kitty thought to herself. _But he can't _copy _him. _She took another breath. This wasn't going to be as bad as she thought. Kitty took another breath. "Bartimaeus," she paused for a moment, thinking of how to word it. "I have to tell you something."

"I'm all ears." He replied.

"But you can't tell anyone." She stopped for a moment. "You have to promise you won't tell anyone."

Bartimaeus nodded. "You know I'm good for it."

Kitty nodded. "Well," She looked down to her hands, toyed with them a moment. "I…I…" She dropped her hands to her side, looked into Bartimaeus' eyes. They were filled with patient expectancy. Kitty sighed, stepped into Bartimaeus' pentacle, whispered her secret in his ear. She backed off into her pentacle, put her hands behind her back as though ashamed, looked to the ground, dragged her foot in an imaginary circle.

Bartimaeus was silent for a moment. He folded his arms. "Why'd you tell me?"

"You're like a brother to Ptolemy, and I needed to tell _someone._"

"Why not Ptolemy?"

"No, I can't do that."

"Oh, _I see_."

"You won't tell anyone, right? Oh, _please _don't tell anyone!"

Bartimaeus frowned. He unfolded his arms. "Why would I tell anyone?"

"Well, Ptolemy _is _your best friend…" She let her voice drift.

"I won't tell him Kitty. Promise."

Kitty smiled. "Thanks, Bartimaeus. C'mon. We've got things to do." Kitty stepped out of the pentacle and began to walk away. She felt Bartimaeus do the same.

Kitty walked with a smile on her face. She was in love with Ptolemy and she wasn't afraid of it anymore. She was ready to confess to Ptolemy.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

The four of them—Ptolemy, Bartimaeus, Kitty herself, and Farrar—had decided that Bartimaeus would go and search for cures of lycanthropy. But before he left, he locked Farrar in the bathroom. She let him, too. She was a 'threat and danger' to them, as she put it, so she willingly locked herself in the bathroom.

Kitty and Ptolemy were conveniently left alone; together. Bartimaeus had told them to stick together. Of course, that meant the two of them were alone. Bartimaeus had left with a smile on his face, and Kitty knew he set it up.

Kitty and Ptolemy had decided to venture up to the third and fourth levels of the mansion. Farrar herself didn't go up there, so they suspected they would be free of decaying bodies.

Everything was just as elegant, beautiful, and expensive as the floors below. It was a true shame Farrar never used these floors. They were defiantly worth attention and praise. Somehow they seemed to radiate more beauty then the others. That is, before the others were trashed. The glass chandelier in the middle of the room was beautifully elegant. Every little shard of glass had its own texture, and every time light hit them they would emit off a different color, making a rainbow fill the room. And to think this was just the main hall. Kitty's heart fluttered with excitement when she thought of what the actual rooms would look like.

"Let's go up to the top floor," Ptolemy broke her thoughts. She looked over to him and smiled. He seemed to be admiring the surroundings just as much as she was. He looked down to her, the light sparkling in his eyes. Kitty nodded and allowed Ptolemy to drift away in exploration. Why not? There was nothing up here to be afraid of.

After another minute of two of admiring the chandelier, Kitty followed after Ptolemy up a staircase. There was a red carpet flowing down the stairs as though it was a runway. Kitty smiled and shook her head slightly. Farrar didn't know what she was missing.

Ptolemy's curiosity brought the both of them to a huge dome-like room that seemed to be something like an observatory. There was hardly anything in this room, save for a huge wall on the left-hand side and a large lever protruding from the ground next to it. Ptolemy looked around for a moment, leaned up against the lever for a moment. When he moved, the lever fell back and clicked into its new position. In response to the lever, the wall moved upward. It moved in on itself and continued to do so until a large gap was made in the wall. The gap was about halfway to the ceiling; about five times Kitty's height. The wall of the dome had moved to reveal a window that looked out on all of London peacefully.

Kitty's eyes widened in wonder and awe. She stared out at London and watched as the sun's last few rays slowly began to disappear beyond the horizon. The sky's clouds were a purple-pink color that held Kitty's eye. She felt a smile spread across her face as she enjoyed the picture.

"Two thousand and some years and it hasn't changed." Ptolemy broke through her thoughts. She looked over to him and caught his eye. His glistened in the light and seemed to bounce with joy. Kitty forced herself to blink and look away.

Even though she couldn't see him, Kitty could feel Ptolemy look at her, maybe wondering why she had a nervous look to her. She pictured him now; his lips slightly parted, his head tilted slightly to one side in wonder. Picturing him like this didn't make her feel any better. If anything, she felt worse.

Absentmindedly, Kitty allowed her legs to collapse. She fell into a perfect pretzel position, continued to stare out at the horizon in hopes of getting Ptolemy out of her mind.

Ptolemy sat down beside her, scribe position, looked out the window as well, sighed. "Still hasn't changed," he repeated. Kitty nodded numbly in reply.

"It is beautiful. But there are better things out there." She didn't let her eyes drift over to him. She felt herself blush slightly. _Don't say it! _The voice shouted at her. She wanted to say something like: 'Something better is sitting right next to me.' The mere thought of what Ptolemy would say to that cause her to think twice before saying it.

Luckily, Ptolemy just nodded. He didn't seem to be a people person. He was more of a book-smart person, not a person-smart kind of guy. But then again, he spent his entire life basically in a library. What else was there to be expected? "There are more beautiful things on this planet. But they're easily ignored."

_Is he picking up on what I meant? _Kitty thought to herself. The mere thought of _that _made her blush. _God, _how she wished to stop the blushing! What happened to her Resistance courage? She was supposed to be fearless and feared by all! Okay, maybe not feared by all, but at least respected by all. But who was left to respect her? Only Bartimaeus remained close to her after what had happened five years ago. Even her own family distanced themselves from her. All she had left was Bartimaeus. A five thousand year old djinni that—supposedly—cared for no one. So much for _that _reputation.

Kitty thought more about what Ptolemy had said. She felt as though he was talking about her, but was trying to be subtle about it. She smiled and decided to play his game. "There are many beautiful—or handsome—_people _out there, too, ya know. One is really smart, but everyone ignored and laughed at his theories. Everyone but one shunned him from society." She forced a stop; she was being too obvious.

"Who?" Or perhaps, maybe she _wasn't _being too obvious. But then again, Ptolemy didn't know people had pushed aside his theories and forgotten them. Perhaps she shouldn't have said anything…

Kitty shook her head to clear her mind and dismiss the subject. "Never mind."

Both were silent for a long moment. Ptolemy broke the silence after a long while of toying with his fingers. "Can I ask you something?"

Kitty turned to him. "Of course."

"It's kind of personal."

"You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Ptolemy nodded, looked away for a moment. When he was ready, turned back to her. "Well, you gave me feeling again…" His voice drifted off.

"Yes?" Kitty pressed him. What was he talking about? For some reason she didn't want it to be about love. She felt odd just thinking about the word.

"What's love really mean? What's it worth? Why do we even have it? How do we know for sure when we're in love? Is it really relevant to live? How—?"

"Whoa, whoa." Kitty interrupted him. "One question at a time, Ptolemy. I'm not a supercomputer, you know."

"What's a supercomputer?" Ptolemy tilted his head to one side, squinted his eyes slightly in a quizzical manner.

Kitty smiled, shook her head. "Never mind that. Now, what's all this about love?"

"I was just wondering what it really was, seeing as I've never experienced it before."

"You have. You might not have realized it, but you have." She paused for a moment, thinking of answers to his questions. "Love is important, Ptolemy. There's no way you can never experience it. It's a really tender subject."

"We can drop it if you don't want to talk about it."

Kitty paused for a moment, shook her head. "When in love, talking is the best thing to do; makes you feel better sooner." She again paused. "Alright," she repositioned herself so she was facing Ptolemy. "question one?"

"Why is love so important?"

"Without feeling it or experiencing it, you're like an empty shell. Love is very important for a human being. Without it, you're like a stone; nothing."

"But I've never experienced it before."

"You have. At least to some degree. Think about it this way; you care about Bartimaeus, right?"

Ptolemy nodded. "Right."

"And you sacrificed you life for his, right?"

"Right."

"You need to feel love to do something like that. You loved Bartimaeus, to some degree. Understand?"

"Sort of. What's love really worth?"

"Everyone on the face of the planet is waiting for the right moment and right person to come by and love them. Eventually, you find that person. Even if it takes you years—long years that seemed like an eternity—you'll find it eventually. Dying a single person, with no one loving you at all, is just torture. There'd be no one there to mourn your death, or to wish they'd taken your place, or wish they could've gone with you…The list goes ever on. Love is worth a lifetime."

"Wow," Ptolemy left it at that as he turned his head and looked out the window. "I never noticed what I was missing until I learned of it."

"You're not alone." Kitty said softly as she turned her body to face the window. She pulled her legs up to herself and held them tight, resting her head on her knees.

Ptolemy looked over to her. "What do you mean?"

"I've loved another once. But I lost him. Ever since then I've learned that you don't always need a lover to get on with your life."

"Who was he? What happened?"

Kitty forced her eyes shut as tears started streaming down. "His birth name was Nathaniel. He sacrificed himself to save the…well…world, I guess. He was a nice guy, deep inside. The powerful authority of a magician in Parliament clouded his mind and judgment. I loved the little boy that used to care for others, not the man that cared only about his career."

Kitty could feel Ptolemy's kind eyes burning into her. She buried her face in her arms and silently let the tears flow. She could feel her back shudder as she let out repressed tears.

For a minute Kitty could feel Ptolemy's eyes on her still. Then she felt them ease off her and felt Ptolemy's arms around her. She looked up slightly to see him holding her in his arms, with his head on hers. He wiped the hair from her face and the tears from her eyes. He gently kissed her cheek. "It's alright," he whispered softly into her ear. "you're still loved."

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**A/n **

**Wow, (Sniff) what a lovey touchy chap. I need to follow it up with something gross or scary or something. This had been MAJORLY changed from what's in my comp book. Shoot, I need to change the whole thing now! (Erases) Now I have to go by whims. WHIMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And check it out, five pages using Verdana 9 font. That's gotta be a record or something. XD **


	46. XLVI: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 46**

**Bartimaeus **

I had watched them from the observatory window the entire time; I had set everything up from the time Kitty told me her secret.(1) It had struck me on more then one thought that I had done the wrong thing, but I wanted to find out just how in love Kitty was with Ptolemy, and if he felt the same.

Apparently he did, for if he didn't he wouldn't have held her close and whispered, "You're still loved." I have to admit that part brought tears to my eyes.(2) It was so sweet and lovey and touchy…I couldn't help myself.

I had taken the guise of the smallest possible creature I could and stared down at them for another few moments. Kitty looked up to Ptolemy and whispered(3), "Love hurts." She buried her face into Ptolemy's chest and just sat there for a moment. Ptolemy allowed her, being the person he is, and waited for her 'tantrum' to tire itself out.

Ptolemy nodded, held her closer. I could tell he was enjoying this, for he had never had anyone truly love him—and he had most certainly never had a woman cry over his shoulders! Something in me just _knew _Ptolemy was enjoying every minute of this somewhere beyond his pity for her.

Kitty looked up to Ptolemy, her eyes still producing tears, and gave a soft smile. He fingertips gently rested on Ptolemy's cheek for a moment, leaned her head in closer to his. Her lips met his. I have to admit that it was all very touching. After a minute, Kitty drew back and wrapped her arms around Ptolemy, fell back into him as she had before. Ptolemy again held her, looked up to my spot as though he knew I was there. He stared at the spot for a moment, and I began to wonder if I had made myself visible. A second later my question was answered when Ptolemy looked away. He must've prayed to the gods or something.

Ptolemy looked back down to Kitty, his eyes glowing. He finally felt that warm fuzzy feeling. I have to admit I was happy for him.

Well, getting back on grimmer purposes, I still had to find possible cures for Jane Farrar's disposition. I doubted that we'd be able to cure her—seeing as she'd been this way since she was five years old. She's been this way too long to be curable. It was my opinion—Kitty shared my thoughts as well—but Ptolemy was determined to at least make an attempt. That meant I had to go out and get the necessary ingredients. It also meant that Kitty would have to put together the spells, potions(4) and the many other things. That would be a tremendous strain on her, seeing as she still had to support Ptolemy and myself in this world.(5)

So, where to start the search? I thought for a moment, then realized there was one place everyone knew was the best place to get cures and diagnosis' for all sorts of magical things. Transylvania. I hadn't been there since the massacre of Count Dracula.(6) The only thing that made me so reluctant to go was remembering Dracula. He still had family out there, and I honestly didn't want them to recognize me. They defiantly wouldn't take me too lightly if they were to recognize me.

With some reluctance for my own safety, I flew off in the direction of Transylvania. ………………………………………………………………………………………………

(1) I know, I know. How wrong of me. Well, what do you expect?

(2) I've told you before that us Djinn can in fact cry. We just don't like it, and I'm no exception. But seeing this…I couldn't help myself. And face it, if it were you mortal fools you'd be balling your eyes out.

(3) I was reading their lips. It's not hard for a trained djinni.

(4) Although the usage of potions were highly disregarded in the wizardly community after the discovery of djinn, sometimes it was still necessary. Lycanthropy was one of the few things that still required potions.

(5) Actually, just me now. We know now that Ptolemy was _summoned _and not resurrected, so Kitty wouldn't have to worry about his essence pulling on hers to stay here; he's already stuck here again. I on the other hand, still needed to be held down. Poor Kitty, everything was starting to get to her again.

(6) I was commissioned to fight against him by some of the rebels. I was the only djinni in the team and pulled most of the weight of the humans. Needles to say, we eventually got Dracula and saved Transylvania. I'd never seen so much blood and cannibalism—don't forget the insanity—in one human being as I did in Dracula. I was thankful for getting to take a part in taking him down.

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**A/n **

**This chapter is 100 original. That's odd for me, since I usually write it up in the comp book and then let it sit there for a few weeks before I post. Hmm, I've been showing signs of the apocalypse lately…EVERYBODY RUN!!!!!!!!!**


	47. XXXXVII: Ptolemy

**Chapter 47 **

**Ptolemy **

Having died when he was fourteen years old, Ptolemy had never known what it really meant to be in love. He understood that now. Thanks to Kitty, he knew what it felt like to love and be loved. Ptolemy felt a warm fuzzy feeling somewhere in the center of his chest.

Ptolemy held Kitty nearer and just sat there with her, thanking the gods for her and Bartimaeus. Without them Ptolemy wouldn't be here at all. And he wanted to be now. He wasn't upset about being resurrected anymore, he was thankful for it. Through Kitty, he was learning something new every day.

The kiss was the only part that really threw him off. It was everything he ever imagined; everything he'd ever wanted. But he couldn't help but feel odd. Part of him felt fine and inclined for more, but the other part felt that he was doing something wrong. Part of him enjoyed the kiss, whilst the other part felt uncomfortable. That was why he felt so odd. Now that he thought about it, the kiss was making his mind and body go haywire. Perhaps the kiss was a bad thing. But why would it be? He got the girl of his dreams to kiss him. What was so wrong about that? He wasn't sure. The more he thought about it, the more doubts raised. Ptolemy reasoned that it was better not to fight his emotions.

Love is a confusing thing.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

As the sun's final rays disappeared beyond the horizon, the only thing that crossed Ptolemy's mind was the kiss. He enjoyed it, but something else was telling him…something. _It's just a kiss. _Ptolemy told himself. But he couldn't come to believe it. In his own feelings, it was more then that. But how could a kiss be more then a kiss? Well, then again…a kiss could be a sort of love and then it could be another. One type was like from Mother to Daughter, and the other type was plain love. Actual love. Between two unrelated people. But the second one…It was more complicated then the first. It was hard to explain, but easy to experience. So, was he really in love, or was he experiencing something simpler? That was the question.

"Difficult." Ptolemy mouthed the word as he looked around and studied a random object. Kitty sat in his arms, silently pulling herself back together.

Kitty let go of Ptolemy and looked him in the eyes. She had pulled away from him now, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I hate crying," she told him as she continued on for another moment. When she was done, she looked into Ptolemy's eyes and just stared into them, as though she was being lost in them.

Both were silent for a long moment, thinking things over. The silence was broken when Jane howled downstairs and began battering against the walls of her prison.

"She's hungry." Kitty said aloud, breaking through the eerie sounds. "And loosing control. We have to hurry, and get her away from the window before she gets away."

"There aren't any windows in the bathroom." A foreign voice answered her. Kitty and Ptolemy looked to the source of the voice.

"Bartimaeus!" Kitty said happily. She stood. Ptolemy followed after her.

"You sound…oddly happy. Are you okay? Did I miss something?"

Kitty shook her head. "You didn't miss anything. And I'm fine. Can we go downstairs now? Did you find anything for Farrar?"

Bartimaeus nodded. "All the mythical stuff. But I don't think it'll work, seeing as she's been this way for so long."

"We have to try anyway," Ptolemy broke in between them. "We promised her we'd do our best."

Bartimaeus looked over to him, nodded. "Still, I'm not exactly sure it'll work…"

"You're five thousand and some odd years old and you don't know how to cure a werewolf?" Kitty asked playfully as she folded her arms.

"It also depends on how long she's been this way. And I'll have you know I'm five thousand twenty-four!"

"Then how long has it been since I've seen you last?" Ptolemy again broke in.

Bartimaeus again turned to him. "2,134 years, 7 months, 20 days, 10,340,09 seconds to the time I saw you again." He had answered without thinking. Ptolemy was impressed. Rekhyt had kept track of his death right down to the seconds. It was amazing what a djinni could do.

"You've been keeping track, down to the last second? Wow…" His voice drifted off when he saw a tall hairy figure looming behind Rekhyt. He felt his face drop all emotion as he continued to stare.

Rekhyt seemed to notice and turned around to look at what Ptolemy saw. "Werewolf!" He shouted as he dodged an attempted blow. "Kitty, Ptolemy, get over in a corner or something. Don't let her cut you!" Rekhyt held Jane's wolf hands in hers and tried to force her back.

"I'm not leaving you," Ptolemy and Kitty told him in unison. Rekhyt growled as Jane pinned him to the floor. He quickly regained control when he blasted Jane with a powerful Denotation. She went flying to the ceiling. Rekhyt took his opportunity and ran.

"Too bad!" He shouted to them. "I'm not going to give her any chances! And I'm defiantly not going to let you two get hurt! Go!" Kitty gave Ptolemy what he thought to have been a signal. The two of them ran out of the room and closed the door behind them.

"What do we do now?" Ptolemy asked Kitty. "We can't just leave Rekhyt!"

Kitty nodded. "You're right. We have to help him. But how…?" Her voice drifted off in thought. She looked around, moaned in wary despair when an idea came to her. "C'mon Ptolemy, I've got an idea." She began to walk away. Ptolemy quickly followed after her.

Ever since the kiss, Ptolemy found he wasn't as nervous around Kitty as he was before. He dubbed that as a good thing.

Kitty brought him to what looked like a kitchen. Ptolemy dubbed it to be so since it looked like the kitchen he had seen at Kitty's house. This one, however, was far more elegant. There was an island in the middle with a sink and small stove connected to it. Behind the stove was the actual part of the kitchen, another stove and another refrigerator. There were cabinets, another sink, knives, and other things. This particular kitchen looked as though it were meant to be used for show rather then cooking.

Kitty picked up a knife, a really big one, too. Ptolemy stared at it as it glittered and reflected the light. It was the only real thing in this kitchen he knew from his old lifetime. This was the instrument that was used for his attempted murders thousands of years ago. Ptolemy could feel himself shudder at its sight. "Why do we need that?" He asked her.

"Two things. One; it's silver. Werewolves are like djinn when it comes to allergies. They're both allergic to silver. Second thing; my plan."

"And…what's your plan?"

Kitty motioned for him to follow her as she walked away. She brought him back to the site of the dead body she had stumbled into before. She bent down, pulled the string. Again the body came down from its hiding place. The flies scattered again, but this time both Ptolemy and Kitty were ready for them. They weren't as startled as they were before.

Kitty took hold of the body and pulled it down onto the floor. Scrunching up her nose as she bent down near it, she removed the shirt. Ptolemy himself scrunched up his face in disgust. "What are you planning to do what _that_?"

Kitty readied the knife, answered. "Every time Farrar's wolf side took over and murdered, it left behind the heart. Why? Because it's the law of the werewolves. Don't ask why or how that law was made—I don't know. In her weakened state, the human side of her won't be able to control the wolf side. So…" She drifted off.

"We're going to lure her somewhere with a human heart," Ptolemy finished off for her, glum in his voice. "But wait, how would that work? The law says she's not allowed to touch the human heart."

"Exactly. That rule becomes void when she becomes a full wolf—to the point where she can no longer alternate between bodies. Most don't get this far, but I think Farrar's well on her way. I'm planning to help her to that final stage. When she caves and goes for the heart, we'll barricade her into a closet or something."

"That won't hold her long."

"I know. But it'll buy us more time." Ptolemy nodded. Kitty sighed, looked down to the body. "You might not wanna look if you're squeamish." Ptolemy knew it was best for him to look away, but he couldn't bring himself to. He watched—with some interest—as Kitty gently placed the knife at the person's chest, then dragged it down to just below the ribs, severing the skin and going deep into the body. Kitty took the two sides of the ripped flesh, tore them apart. The sound of it ripping was worse then the sight. It made Ptolemy's skin crawl. As wont of a dead body, it didn't bleed. Everything in it was silent, lifeless.

Ptolemy watched in amazement as Kitty tore through the body. He never witnessed a mummification, so he never saw what his insides looked like. They were nothing special, just grey, red, brown, and yellow blobs of matter. It was a good thing the Ba did all the thinking and not the Ka! How could those simple ugly blobs of matter function the Ka properly? But, according to those who specialized in mummification, there were four important…blobs of matter out of the body. The liver, both intestines, and the heart. These were the blobs of matter that really mattered.

But, snapping back to reality, Ptolemy watched as Kitty picked and identified the heart, began to cut the—cords?—that were attached to it. She scrunched up her face in disgust as she continued on. When the last cord was cut, Kitty set the knife down, pulled out the heart. She stood, faced Ptolemy. "Hopefully this works." She said to him, her voice full of doubt.

"And if it doesn't?" He asked.

She sighed. "Then we're in trouble." She was silent for a moment, studying the heart. She collected the knife, handed it to him. "Keep this with you in case anything happens. Let's go." She finished firmly, tightly closing her hand around the heart. Ptolemy nodded in what he hoped would look like confidence and took the knife.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

**A/n **

**How's that for gross and gory after the lovey scene? I feel content with myself…**


	48. XLVIII: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 48**

**Bartimaeus **

Alright, when I told Ptolemy and Kitty to leave, I was hoping they'd come back with something to help. But it seems that they took me seriously. Perfect.

I was faring pretty well with Farrar for about twenty minutes before she got the better of me. I was going for the run-and-attack technique, while she was going for the chase-and-attack technique. My comments hadn't worked in the least, so they were ruled out quickly. And lucky me, the werewolf repellent I had collected hadn't affected her in the least. She'd been a werewolf too long. She was fast, too. It was hard to dodge her. She was big, but she wasn't stupid.

She had gotten me off guard, when I thought my many denotations were starting to take a toll on her. I turned away for just a second, and she was on me. My essence was already wounded from one of her earlier attacks, and I was angry.(1) She sat on my chest with her knees and pinned my arms down. I couldn't move. Before my Denotation had charged, she attacked, making a deep gash in my already wounded essence.(2) I wailed in pain and forced her off me.

I staggered onto my feet, raised my hand to my head, shook it and blinked several times. I swayed a little(3). My consciousness flickered.

Just as I was about to pass out, Kitty and Ptolemy burst into the room. I couldn't make out much detail, but I could see that Kitty was carrying a human heart. Farrar caught sight of the heart and ran over to them. I was too dazed to grip everything completely, but I could tell what they were planning. Kitty was going to lure Farrar away from me and in some sort of confinement.

But they time they succeeded, I was already out cold.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

"…maeus,"

"…khyt?"

"Bartimaeus!" Still, I wasn't completely there.

But a bucket of ice water did the trick. My eyes shot open, I bolted upright. "What was that for?!" I shouted at them.

"We had to wake you up _somehow_." Kitty answered.

"What happened to Farrar?"

"Bathroom."

"Ah," I rubbed my arms in a desperate attempt to warm myself up(4). "She still alive?"

"Yeah," Kitty answered warily. "Ptolemy wouldn't let me kill her."

"She doesn't deserve to die!" Ptolemy cut in.

"You didn't, either." I told him. A heavy silence dropped.

"That was different." Ptolemy muttered.

"How, Ptolemy?" I stood. "Everyday for two thousand, one hundred, thirty-four years I've been wishing you had lived. Blaming myself for your death. Wondering who you'd grow up to be. I could've kept you from dying. You didn't have to die, Ptolemy. But you did. _You were only fourteen! _You had a long life ahead of you! But you wasted it to save me. Why?"

Ptolemy was silent for a moment, surprised by my reaction. "Because," he began, "you were my best—and only—friend. No human had been as close to me as you were. I didn't want to see you die along with me that day. Especially not for someone like me."

"Someone like you?" I yelled back. I felt to the point of tears(5). "In all my lifetime, I've never met another like you!" Kitty coughed to show her presence. "Well, except for Kitty. You two are two of a kind! Why, Ptolemy, do you think I wear your guise so much? It's not because it's something to wear! I can take over a million forms, and yours is the one I've used the most. Two thousand, one hundred, thirty four years, and I wear your form. Who do _you _think is the lucky one? Think about it." And with that, I took the guise of a sparrow and flew off.

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(1) Imagine a full glass of water with a medium-sized hole in its side. The water spills out of the glass somewhat quickly. That was me; running out of time.

(2) Now imagine that glass with an extra-large sized hole on top of the other.

(3) I was running out of essence, fast. Essence for me is like blood for you.

(4) Yes, djinn get cold.

(5) Yes, djinn can cry. Not usually out of depression, though. Try happiness.

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**A/n **

**Sniff sniff. Poor Bartimaeus. Still lovey touchy. Well, that's it for a while since I've got writer's block. Ideas? Anything? **


	49. XL: Bartimaeus Kitty Ptolemy

**Guess who's back back back...Back again ain ain...Chaos is back back back...Tell a friend friend friend...**

**Yay! I'm back!!!!!! Sorry I've been gone so long. FanFiction was blocked. And now I don't have my laptop so I'm doing everything on the home computer. Well, at least I've finally updated. Read!!**

**Chapter 49**

I had no idea where I was headed. The only thing I had settled for sure was that I needed to leave Ptolemy's presence. I wasn't sure of anything, really. The anger and depression Ptolemy had released when he spoke about the day he died was unbearable. I couldn't help but react the way I did. I wasn't expecting it and I didn't want to break my usual ool like that, but I just couldn't help it. Everything that I had held close to me - everything that I had bottled up - just burst. It was then that I realized it was slowly escaping since the first day I saw Ptolemy again.

I'm not used to seeing something I once held dear come back. That's how I learned that getting attached to humans isn't a good thing. It was through Ptolemy's hard example that I learned that. I've been so accustomed to being by myself that I had no other real way to react. Kitty's bringing him here seemed it was hurting me more then helping me.

As the sparrow flew in and out of the clouds, trying to find something to entertain it, it decided where it would go. I'd decided I'd go back to Mr. Button's library to try to find out why Ptolemy wasn't anywhere among the other books. I know thats initally a stupid - and ironic - thing to pass the time by, but the question had been eating at me since I had first been faced with it, and now was the best time to answer the question.

Well, it was a good way to kill time abd a good way to get my mind off things, so why not? I mean, it's not like I'll have anything else to do for a while. Since Kitty was now 'close' to Ptolemy, she'd allow him to think my reaction over and not bother to bring me back. Besides she's a smart girl and she'll know we need space.

My mind made up, I turned around and flew in the direction of Mr. Button's estate.

XxxXxxXxxX

Kitty watched as Ptolemy stared at the spot Bartimaeus was last seen. He only stared there for a moment, thinking things over, and then began to trudge upstairs to the observatory. Kitty quickly followed after him, calling his name. "Ptolemy! _Ptolemy! _Wait up!" But her calls were in vain. Ptolemy's wouldn't listen. Kitty could understand why, but she didn't want to be _totally _useless in the situation. She wanted to help him. It was the best thing she could do at the moment.

Still calling, Kitty ran after Ptolemy until she caught up to him when he stopped. He looked out the observatory's big, round window and up to the stars, as though he was hoping they'd answer all his questions. Kitty stepped to his side and looked up o the stars as well.

She grew bored of the stars and looked to Ptolemy, who was still eying them. She saw the stars glitter in his eyes and know he was thinking hard about what Bartimaeus had said.

Kitty was now desperate to say something, so she found an excuse to. "You see where he's soming from, right? I mean - "

For the first time since she'd heard of him and all his politeness, Ptolemy interrupted her. "Save it." And that was all he said. He continued to look up at the stars, without even acknoweldeging her.

Kitty was stunned. She knew that wasn;t Ptolemy's way. Either what Bartimaeus had said really stirred him, or he was thinking so hard he was forgetting who he was. Kitty decided she had to continue. "You don't hate him, do you?"

"Of course not." Ptolemy continued to stare up at the stars. "I could never hate him. But what he said...it really got me thinking. He's right."

"It's hard loosing someone you loved." Kitty answered softly, speaking through her expreiance with Nathaniel.

Ptolemy looked away from the stars and to her. "You loved Nathaniel, didn't you?" He was more stating then asking. Kitty just nodded.

"Half of him. I didn't love - or like at all, frankly - the magician he'd grown to become. Same as all the others, execpt you."

Ptolemy was silent for a moment, then looked back up to the stars. He sighed and said, "That's the course of humanity. The growth of power overwhelms us and then we spiral."

"Spiral?" Kitty repeated, slightly confused.

Ptolemy nodded. "Things spiral out of control. Our djinn rebel against us, finding more and more weaknesses, enemy magicians find our birth name, your own people cast you out and kill you..." Kitty realized he was talking about himself, she knew. Ptolemy noticed this as well and stopped talking. He simple looked back to the stars again.

"You and Bartimaeus seriously need to talk." Kitty told him in her old Ressistance-leader tone.

Ptolemy looked back to her for a moment, then said, "Obviously he's not ready for that."

"Ptolemy, he's _tried. _I can tell. He's really trying."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Woman intuition." Kitty answered with a smile. Ptolemy gave her a small smile in response. "But seriously," Kitty began again when she felt the air between them lighten, "you guys need to settle everything once and for all. So _both _of your spirits can be at peace." Ptolemy nodded, took the thought into consideration, turned away from Kitty, and stared back up at the stars. Kitty left him at that - he'd gotten the message.

XxxXxxXxxX

Ptolemy thought about Kitty's words. She was right. He needed to talk to Bartimaeus about his death to put them both at peace. Their friendship would never be the way it used to be unless he confronted Bartimaeus. He desperately wanted to, but he didn't know how to approach the matter. He'd never spoken about death before, and speaking of his own was even worse. How could he talk freely about the day _he _died? It seemed impossible to him. It was such a tender subject with Bartimaeus...He didn't want to hurt his only friend.

The more Ptolemy thought about it, the more he realized how faithful Bartimaeus had been to him. From the day they met to today, Bartimaeus had never let go of his faith and moved on. No. Instead, Bartimaeus held him close to hist heart for over three thousand years. That was the biggest sign of love Ptolemy ever heard of. And all of that was coming from a djinni that hated humans. Bartimaeus was indeed a confusing being.

Kitty broke his thoughts. "Do you want me to bring him back?" Ptolemy numbly shook his head, still looking up to the stars. Three thousand years and they hadn't changed one bit. They looked exactly as they had three thousand years ago, in Egypt. They still twinkled and shined with their mystifying beauty.

Ptolemy was at a loss for words. He couldn't describe what was going through his mind. All he knew was that Kitty was right and thet Bartimaeus was the only reason he was here again.

* * *

**A/n **

**So there's my little AgiVega style of writing for the day. Thought I'd write a small side-chapter describing what each character was thinking after Bartimaeus' little breakdown. Still sketchy on what's going to happen next, so suggestions are very welcome! **


	50. L: Kitty

**Chapter 50**

**Kitty**

Kitty had, for a long while, completely forgotten about Farrar, who was still locked in the bathroom downstairs. There had been so much drama between Bartimaeus and Ptolemy Kitty had found that was all she was interested in. But when she _did _remember Farrar, she knew it was best to go check on her. Kitty voiced her actions to Ptolemy before she left. He simply nodded.

As she slowly walked down the stairs, Kitty realized the three of them - Bartimaeus, Ptolemy, and herself - wouldn't be able to stay in London forever. More and more bodies were being found - in the same condition as Mr. Button's - and more and more people started finding an Egyptian boy, with naught but a loincloth, suspicious. _Especially _the number of times he was seen breaking into Mr. Button's real estate. Bartimaeus wasn't helping much.

So then the only thing they could possibly do would be able to go to another place, where Britain didn't rule and they wouldn't be recognized. Perhaps America..._No, _Kitty thought to herself, _America's at war with Britain. Best to stay away from there. _What about China? No, too crowded and distant. But then, a thought came to her.

_What about Egypt? _

The suggestion seemed to fit, but one thing kept her back: _What would Bartimaeus and Ptolemy think? _Kitty thought bringing back Ptolemy would've been a nice thing to do for Bartimaeus, but in the end it hurt him more then helping him. He'd crumbled when faced with the past - how would Ptolemy react to Egypt? Kitty doubted bringing them there would've helped at all, but something told her to bring them. But why should she? She'd only -

_Just bring them! _A forigen voice shouted through her thoughts. Who was that voice? It sounded familiar...

By now, Kitty reached the Bathroom in which Farrar was locked. There were no sounds coming from behind the door at all, and Kitty feared the worst. What if Farrar had gone quiet because she heard Kitty coming from upstairs? What if she was waiting for Kitty to open the door to the bathroom to strike? What if Farrar attacked her? Without Bartimaeus, there wasn't much of a chance at all. Facing a full-blown werewolf like Farrar - especially in such a demonic state - was like facing a train dead on. There would be nothing she could do if Farrar decided to attack when she opened the bathroom door. Kitty would be completely helpless.

Taking in a deep breath, Kitty grabbed the doorknob and moved to the left side of the door, where it would swing open when she turned the knob and pulled it. At least then the side of the door would hide her for at least a moment. Gulping, Kitty turned the knob and pulled the door towards her slowly.

She closed her eyes and waited for the worst to come, but nothing did. Kitty opened her eyes and looked through the crack between the door and the wall and saw Farrar lying on the floor, a pool of blood all around her, coming from her wrist. A little ways off was a sharp razorblade, which Kitty presumed was the tool used for her suicidal death. Gasping, Kitty ran into the bathroom, bent down to Farrar, and checked for vital signs. There were none. No wonder she had been so quiet. Farrar had finally had enough and killed herself.

Shouting Ptolemy's name at the top of her lungs, Kitty wraped a towel around Farrar's now blood-drained body. She was panicking - she didn't know what to do. Kitty continued to scream for Ptolemy and prayed to god he'd come out of his trance at least long enough to come down to her aid. What was she to do? She had witnessed death before, but just as last time she was at a loss for words - in shock. All she could do was call Ptolemy's name, over and over. And as much as she hated Farrar, she found tears welling in her eyes and finally dripping down her cheek. She let the tears flow and pounded on Farrar's chest in dispair. "Why'd you give up, you bitch!" She yelled delriously. "Why'd you give up on me?" She yelled at the body although she expected an answer. And although the logical part of her mind knew she wouldn't get an answer, the other half of her mind wanted one, anyway.

But just then, Ptolemy came into the room, eyes wide, ready for action. "What happened?" He asked as he bent down to Farrar and Kitty, pulling Kitty away from the corpse.

Kitty pointed to the razorblade a bit away from Farrar. "Suicide." She whispered. She was no longer crying and yelling, but whispering in a sort of disbelief and fright. Why was she reacting this way? She knew it had something to do with shock, but still half of her brain refused to aknowledge any of that information. Ptolemy pulled Kitty up, his arms around her. Before she knew what she was doing, Kitty burst into tears again and laid her head down on Ptolemy's chest. She let the tears flow.

It felt good, having a sturdy thing to cry on. But better yet, it wasn't a _thing, _it was a _person. _She had an actual person she could cry on that actually loved her and cared for her. She didn't need to go take a shower or wait for it to rain to cry anymore, no. With Ptolemy, she could cry in his arms whenever she felt she needed. And like the showed and rain, Ptolemy never questioned her. He just rubbed her back soothingly and listened to her cry. It did seem a bit cruel, but by doing this simple action and nothing else, Kitty found she felt better then if he was to try to comfort her in another manner. How did Ptolemy know her so well?

After a while the shock and tears resided, and the normal Kitty Jones was ready to resume control again. Sniffling, Kitty wiped her eyes with her hand and backed off Ptolemy. He didn't say a word. Only one question went through her mind then. _What are we going to do with the body? _She voiced it to Ptolemy, and he didn't answer immediately.

After a while, though, he did. "I don't know. Do we just leave it here or do we bury it? And worse yet, where are we going to go next? We have no idea where your parents are, _if _they're alive at all, George is out to get us for some reason, Mr. Button is dead, and so is Farrar. Who else do you know that could help us?"

Kitty thought for a moment, then remembered the one friend who had remained by her side the whole while she knew him. "My good old friend Jakob. I bet he'll help us."

"Where is he?"

"No idea. Last I heard he was somewhere in Belgum or something, and that was five years ago."

"Well then, we can forget about _his _help. Any other options?"

"We have to leave the country," Kitty concluded. "Go somewhere where we won't be suspected of anything - where we'll blend right in. What do you think?"

"I only know of Egypt. I don't see why we couldn't go there."

"You want to?"

"Yes. It seems a good idea."

"What about Bartimaeus?"

"We'll bring him as well, if he's willing to stay on Earth for a longer while."

"Yeah, and if he's willing to be on a plane for like a day."

"What's a plane?"

"A device used to transport people from place to place, through the air." Ptolemy's eyes widened at the thought of being able to fly. Kitty smiled. "C'mon, let's go summon Bartimaeus."

* * *

**A/n **

**And I'm back! Wow, it's been FOREVER since I've thought of something. Well, the gang's going to Egypt. What happens there? I have no friggin' idea. (damn) This is the best I can do for now, since I've had writers block for like two years and was writing my other stories. Reviews are very crucial here, people, so please do. Ideas and critisim are very welcome! **


	51. LI: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 51**

**Bartimaeus**

Well, I'd found every magician under the sun in Mr. Button's estate, but Ptolemy. Why wasn't he here? I know Kitty tried taking the books with him in it, but she couldn't have taken them all. But what really surprised me was the fact that _Nathaniel _was mentioned in a few books. He even had his own biography! I sneered in disgust whenever I saw one of those, riped the pages out, and scattered them all over with a happy grin.(1) But out of all the books here, none of them had even the _slightest _mention of Ptolemy.

Sighing, I sat down at a nearby table and began thumbing through a book that was there. _King Urchalis Fin, _it said. Never heard of him. Must've been some low-level king nobody liked. Hmm, born in 1803 in Finland. Oh boy, how interesting. Reguardless of how interesting it was, I skimmed it(2) and looked at the pictures. Not the most interesting book I've ever read, but it gave me something to do.

It was hours before I felt the tugging on my essence. It was very weak at first, like the person calling me was sying, but then they were strengthened somehow and I couldn't shake it off then(3). Sighing, I dropped the book and gave in to the summons.

* * *

A moment later, I was there in my pentacle, but Kitty and Ptolemy weren't. They were scuffling around the observatory of Farrar's estate, collecting things they had scattered and putting them in bags. I watched them for a moment, until Kitty said to me, "We're leaving."

"What about Farrar?"(4)

"Dead," she answered with a grimace.

"Suicide." Ptolemy put in, with the same grimace. Why did they care so much? I decided it was best not to ask.

"Where are we going?"

"Egypt," Ptolemy answered again. And this time, there was the slightest grin on his face.

"Egypt?" I repeated, my mouth cracking in a smile. I'd never been able to go back to Egypt since Ptolemy died, but now I had the chance to go back! Words could not describe the joy I felt just then.

"Yes, Egypt." Kitty answered. She seemed irritable, but I tried to act like I didn't notice. "We've nowhere else to go."

"Yes!" I shouted at the top of my lungs as I began jumping up and down. "Woohohoho!" I ran over to Ptolemy(5) and began jumping around again. Ptolemy picked up on my cheerfulness quickly. Soon, both of us were cheerful and hapy. But our cheerful mood quickly dissipated when we saw Kitty's solem face.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Farrar's dead," she mumbled under her breath. "Our last hope."

"That's not true," Ptolemy told her. "_Egypt _is out last hope."

"What about my parents?"

Ptolemy opened his mouth to answer, but I interrupted him before he said anything.(6) "We'll bring them."

"Really?"

"Ues. We'll go back to their house and ask them if they wanna come." Kitty seemed to brighten then, and came over to the two of us.

"Wooohoo!" She said hapilly as she began to jump up and down, grabbing one of my hands and one of Ptolemy's. Soon, the three of us were happy and celebrating.

* * *

(1) Demented, I know. You should try it, it's fun.

(2) Djinn can read faster then any human. So skimming for us is like looking at the page without reading any of the words for you.

(3) Just thought I'd clear this up for you: I could shake off the summons when I first felt them, because they were so weak.

(4) When you're a djinni, you get used to moving around a lot.

(5) They had set up the pentacle so both of us could move around. There were designs for it, it had been thought of before and written down, but no other magician besides Kitty and Ptolemy would ever trust a djinni like that.

(6) Seeing as he didn't really know his parents, because they had both died when he was young, he probably would've said something that would've offended Kitty without realizing it, and she was a disaster already.

* * *

**A/n **

**They're going to Egypt!!! Here's a shout out for **_**Solarengo, **__**The known author, **__**AngelicMermaid1994**_**, and **_**Cryptic Sarcasm**_**. All those ideas are wonderful, and I think I'm going to use them. I'll have to incorperate my own ideas and stuff, and that would just make it better! Next chapter is Kitty, but I'm not done with it yet, so you'll have to wait a while! **


	52. LII:Kitty

**Chapter 52**

**Kitty**

Going to Egypt sounded exciting, but she felt something holding her back. Her parents. Were they still alive? Did they live to tell the dangerous tale? And, worst of all, would they still accept her if she showed up at their house? Probably not. Why should they? She had endangered their lives more then once - she didn't deserve them any more. But then one question that made her queasy was: Would they ever forgive her? Would they ever forget it and move on, or would they shun her for it? People weren't likely to forgive someone that almost killed them, even if that person was their daughter. THat was what troubled her most.

With these troubling thoughts going through her mind, Kitty stopped jumping and let go of Bartimaeus and Ptolemy's hands. What if her parents hated her? But it wasn't her fault...

"What if Mom and Dad abandon me?" she voiced her doubts aloud.

"They won't abandon you," Ptolemy comforted her. "You couldn't help what happened."

"I suppose. But what if they didn't make it at all? What if they never got out of the building?"

"I had them go out the back door." Bartimaeus assured her. "I saw them run from the building before it exploded. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been caught in it." Kitty looked the djinni in the eyes for a moment, and instantly knew he was telling the truth and nothing but the truth. His eyes looked like Ptolemy's but if you looked beyond the color, you could see a swirling void of blue, with yellow strikes of matter floating around in it, along with the current. It was a beautiful sight, and Kitty found she couldn't look away. After a while, she thought she could see the walls of Urk, the djinni known as Jabor, Prague, and for a minute she thought she could see Egypt itself, in its hayday. The things she saw...

But she was broken out of the spell when Bartimaeus broke the silence. "What?" He asked the comical question after a while.

"Oh, nothing." Suddenly, relization struck her. A rush of relief swept over her. Her parents were alive! They probably wouldn't like to see her again, but they were alive and well, and that was all that mattered. "Alright then. First, we'll go to their house and make sure they're alright. Then we'll go to Egypt. But before all that we loot the house of all the money Farrar has. That should be easy, and should cover out flying costs. Bartimaeus, you'll have to wear a guise of a bug and hide in our hair or something. If mum and dad don't want to come, Ptolemy, you're my husband. If they do come, you're our adoptive child. Neither of us know anything about magic. Got it?" Ptolemy nodded. With that, the three of them separated into three different area of Farrar's estate.

* * *

Kitty first looked in Farrar's main room. She had to have had something there, like a debit card or cash. Kitty hoped Farrar didn't hide her money away in safes. 

Inside Farrar's room, Kitty looked around in the obvious places. First, the nightstands on either sides of her bed. The nightstand on the left side of Farrar's bed harbored two cents. Sighing in dissatisfaction, Kitty pocketed the two pennies and moved on to the right nightstnad. Kitty found twenty dollars in that one, but nothing more. She left her mess as it was. What was the point in cleaning it anyway? Farrar was dead, and she didn't have any family to speak of. But if the police stepped in, that's be a different story. If she left the mess the way it was, they would definately be able to tell someone had ramsacked her belongings.

As she gave one final look over the mess, Kitty spotted a desk opposite the bed and nightstands. She walked over to it, studied it without touching anything for a moment. There was nothing outstanding about it - it was just a desk. Paper were scattered over a calender cover, a jar of quilled pens were cupped in the right side front corner, which sat next to an open bottle of ink. THere was a blank piece of paper, which had been stained by a quil pen that had been dabbed in ink. _Farrar must've been planning on writing something before she died, _Kitty thought to herself. Without thinking, she began to search through the papers. She carefully removed the quil and paper from the desk. She threw them behind her and began her search of the papers on Farrar's desk.

One was wrinkled as though it had been folded, and the adressee to it was a woman by the name of Ilea. The handwriting looked familiar, but she couldn't place it. Kitty read the letter.

_My Dearest Ilea; _

_I know the time has come for me to pass, and I'm ready for it. I've gone as high up into the government as I could, and I have found true love. You, my darling Ilea, are my one and only true love. We have been through tough times and happy times, we've been through everything a true couple could possibly go through. I know you believe I'm still in love with Kitty, but darling, those feelings for her have passed and won't ever come back. THe love I feel is for you and only you. Never again shall I love another. I want you to know that. _

_I have decided my course of fate, and now I must follow it. _

_I will love you always, _

_Nathaniel _

Instnatly, tears began to swell in Kitty's eyes. Nathaniel had never loved her. He had loved Jane "Ilea" Farrar and no one else. Perhaps he had started to fall for Kitty, but Farrar quickly pulled him out of it. Through everything the two of them ha been through, Nathaniel had never loved her.

Kitty wanted to ressurect him, just so she could kill him.

Her tears drying, depression changing into anger, Kitty crumpled the paper inside her right hand and stormed off to find Bartimaeus or Ptolemy.

* * *

**A/n**

**So, it's been a while. How ya'll doin'? I'm fine, just a bit of writer's block on only everything I've been writing lately. Oh well, at least I've updated again. That's a start. I have no idea who's chapter the next one is going to be, but you'll find out when you read the next chapter, won't you? Well, see you next time I decide to write. XD **


	53. LIII: Bartimaeus

**Chapter 53**

**Bartimaeus**

The minute I saw the tears on Kitty's face, I knew something had been discovered. She had a crumpled piece of paper in her hand, so obviously it was a letter or photograph.(1) She didn't bother wiping away the tears that were running down her cheek; she hardly seemed to notice them. The moment she laid eyes on me, she collapsed on me, pounding my chest. The tears began to flow again, and so she buried her face into my chest.(2)

Taken aback, all I could do was hold her in my arms. Soon, I became used to her crying on me and began to comfort her. "Kitty, what did you find?"

For a moment I received no reply, but then she opened her left hand and revealed a note.(3) I took the note and read it.

After a while of studying the handwriting, I looked back to Kitty. She was wiping the tears away now.(4) She didn't look at me for a long while. I didn't bother her. Instead, I patiently waited for her to back off me and say or do something. And eventually, she did. "Bartimaeus," she began, "what am I to think of this? I don't want to love him. But I fear I still do." She fell into my arms again. "God, it's so hard. Why does it have to be this way?" She didn't look up to me, but I knew the question wasn't rhetorical.

And so I answered, "I know what you're going through. Love and death. Like love, grief knows no bounds." I paused for effect. "But Kitty, that wasn't Nathaniel's handwriting."

Kitty looked up to me, grief molding into anger. "What do you mean?"

"I _mean _Natty boy didn't write that letter. And no djinn can forge human handwriting.(5) I've never served Farrar, but it must be her handwriting."

"So you're saying she wrote this to herself?" Kitty asked incredulously. "Why?"

I shrugged. "How should I know?" But then, a thought struck me. For a long moment, I looked off into the distance, thinking. What if the letter was under a Glamor or Illusion? I had never bothered checking the letter on the higher planes,(6) and so there was a possibility of my theory being accurate. There are certain type of magic that's difficult for a djinni like me to trace, see, or feel. It takes an extremely powerful magician _and _djinni to do it right, but somehow, Farrar had gotten it done. I checked the paper on the higher planes, carefully studying it, and sure enough, it was under a Text.(7) I removed the Text and read the _real _letter.

_Ms. Kathleen Jones; _

_My name is Gohar Younas. I'm an Egyptian accomplice of Jane Farrar. The letter you saw before this was a fake. I placed a magical spell on it called a Text. It was created to change the words to whomever's reading, and so I have no idea whatsoever of what the Text told you. However, I can tell you that it was a complete fake. _

_Now, on to real business. Miss Jane Farrar has told me everything about your situation. She had used a demon to watch you since Mr. Button was killed. She assures you, however, that she has never had anything to do with the murder. She was concerned for your safety, Miss Jones. That is why she sent a demon out to follow you. However, she strictly tied the demon to follow you and not interfere with your movements, no matter what it happened to witness or think. _

_When Miss Farrar died, the demon had left to my sole service. We had joint summoned the creature, and so the demon relayed the information it discovered to me. It is currently June 30th, 2007. I ordered the demon to help me place a Text on the letter, then ordered it to place it on Miss Farrar's desk before you noticed. It cast a Glamor on your creature so it wouldn't interfere._(8) _I truly hope this has not caused you any inconveniences. _

_I know your plan is to come to Egypt and I fully recommend it. If and when you arrive, look for me at the airport. I'll hold a sign with your false identity, Clara Bell, inscribed upon it. And fear not, I am not a member of any governmental office. I shall away your call. _

There was nothing "double agent" about this at all. Nothing suspicious, nothing a witty djinni like me could make out of this as wrong. No underlying words. Nothing whatsoever. I wanted to find something wrong with this, but couldn't.

By this time, Ptolemy had made his way back to us. He handed his found money - two briefcases filled with hundred dollar pounds - to Kitty, who added her twenty pounds and two shillings to the cases. He had tried questioning Kitty, but she wouldn't answer, and soon he gave up.

I returned my attention to Kitty. "Kitty, this paper was put under a Text. It wasn't what you thought it was."

She studied me for a long moment, then said, "What does it say?"

I read the paper aloud.(9)

After a moment of thinking, she said, "It all makes sense now. Why she did what she did." I nodded in agreement.

"Now what?" Ptolemy put in.

"Now," Kitty answered, "we take our leave. Pack your bags, boys. We're going to Egypt!"

* * *

In ten minutes flat, we were ready to go. Why not? We had nothing to take with us but the money we had found. Ptolemy didn't know that those briefcases harbored so much money...It was quite funny to see his reaction when I translated how much it was (roughly) in Egyptian currency.

We decided it was best to use London's airport instead of going straight to Egypt, because we didn't know how they tolerated magic. And so, I took the guise of a flea and hopped into Ptolemy's hair. Kitty was to use the false identity of Clara Bell, and I was to protect Ptolemy with a Glamor whenever he needed it. I was to cast an Illusion of the briefcases so that they looked like normal suitcases with normal belongings inside. This was all simple enough, but something unnerved me about the whole thing. Maybe it was just going to Egypt in itself, maybe it was for a more worrisome reason. Whatever the cause, I was jittery.

Ptolemy must've noticed it, or felt me jumping around on his head, because he asked, "Rekhyt, what's wrong?"

I jumped down into his ear. "Nothing. Just jittery, I suppose. You?"

"Same. Egypt ringing a bell?"

"Something like that. I don't like that note, though."

"It's a completely legitimate note."

"That's what worries me."

* * *

Ptolemy and Kitty (technically, I wasn't there) took a taxi to the airport. I didn't like it - too much humanly concepts - but I didn't say anything. The ride was quite quiet between Kitty and Ptolemy, and the air around them carried the strained factor. The rider wasn't very talkative, either. All was quiet within the cab.

But, eventually, the cab made its way to the airport. I mentally groaned. Planes were a little better than cars, but not by much. Planes were a flying thing - my preferable way of transportation - but they still consisted and smelled of human creation. Although planes were a bit easier on my essence than cars, they still made me nauseous.

When Kitty paid the taximan, the two of them stepped outside and into the airport. I hopped off Ptolemy and took the shape of the Virgin Roman. I stopped them and waited for the sickness to take its toll.

And eventually, as I'd expected, it did. I ran to a nearby garbage can, which was only a few meters away. I ran to it, held it, threw up some sort of essence.(10) I quickly cast an Illusion on it to make it look like human vomit, then gagged the rest out. Kitty and Ptolemy had approached me, worried. "You okay, Bartimaeus?" Kitty asked in a hushed voice.

"Fine," I forced out as the rest of the chunks flew to freedom. "Just a little carsick. I'll get over it." I stood and wiped the rest of the 'essence' off my mouth with my arm and willed the sickness to pass. Eventually it did, and I was about to regain control of myself.

"You sure?" Kitty prompted.

"I'm fine. Really." I insisted. All this attention made me feel a bit odd.

"You think you can make the flight? It's going to take a few days."

"They've got bathrooms on board, right?"

"Yes."

"Then I'll survive. I'll use the flea guise to hop back and forth, if I need to."

"Just don't let anyone see you."

I nodded, looked over to the silent Ptolemy. He was studying me with a worried look on his face. "Ptolemy, I'm _fine._"

"Oh. I know." He looked away quickly. Thoughts were running through his mind - I knew him well enough - thoughts that concerned me too much. He was too worried about me for his own good. As I've said before, we've cared about each other as though we were brothers. I still loved him this way, and I knew he still felt the same; I just didn't want him to be so concerned over this. It was like I was going to die.

I voiced none of this, however. Instead, I said to the both of them, "Well, what are you waiting for? Kitty, did you reserve tickets?"

She shook her head. "Y - " Then she cut herself off, a look of pain etched onto her face. She wrapped her arm around her stomach, leaned over and supported herself against the nearest fence with her free hand. This attack lasted for about a minute before it ended; she was upright before Ptolemy finished his question. Kitty shook her head to ward off the pain and finished her sentence. "You can buy them on the spot here."

I studied her for a long while, gauging whether or not she was alright. She gave me a stern look, a look that told me to keep my mouth shut, so I did. "Very well, then." I gave them a final salute - to lessen the intensity of worry in the air - and hopped into Ptolemy's ear, burrowing myself deep inside.

Ptolemy tried asking if she was alright, but no answers came. He gave up, too.

* * *

Soon enough, the two of them were on the plane. When it took off, we decided it was safe enough for me to revert to the guise of the Roman Virgin. I took a look around, studied the surroundings. Most of the first class rows in which we were seated were empty, save for an old couple towards the middle. We were in the back, and we could see everything. There was a blonde woman to the left, right behind the captain's pit,(11) and also a young, dark-haired man that was somewhere in his thirties. _He _was sitting in the middle row, right in front of the television built into the wall. None of the passengers were any sort of magician or djinn. Everything was smooth here - there was nothing to worry about. That was what troubled me.

And the fact that Kitty's cramp from before seemed to have foreshadowed more pain. She was dizzy now, and having some trouble speaking correctly. She stumbled over her words, stuttering and forgetting what she was going to say as if afraid of something. But when prompted on her condition, she managed a couple of foul words and changed the subject. Suspicion arose within me.

But I didn't voice any of my suspicions - of Kitty or the other fliers alike - as usual. I listened as Ptolemy and Kitty spoke of things, sometimes trivial, sometimes substantial.

"...Back in Egypt, me and Rekhyt would sometimes go to the Nile and just sit, watching as the sun slowly set through the day." It was true - on the off-chance that there was nothing for Ptolemy to do, he'd bring me down to the Nile with him. Usually, we just sat by its coast and watched the sun go by. Sometimes, we'd even take out a boat and just sail down it, all day. We'd see how far down it we could get, how long it'd take us to get back to Alexandria. Yes, those were indeed good times...

I rested my head back on the chair, listened to them talk, and began the process of opening doors that had been locked for millennia.

* * *

"...aeus."

"...maeus!"

"Bartimaeus!" Kitty hissed, shaking me. I jumped up in surprise.

"Hmm? What happened now?"

"You fell asleep, and your guise is slipping."

I looked down at myself and found my form to be slipping. My legs looked as though fog surrounded it - you could only barely see their outlines. From the waist down, it looked like this. Slightly embarrassed, I quickly reshaped into the Roman Virgin.

"I thought djinn don't sleep," Kitty mocked.

"We don't _need _to, but we can if we want." I shifted in my seat, embarrassed at falling asleep in front of both of them. But those thoughts of the past were so soothing...I couldn't help it.(12) I looked around, desperate for something to change the subject. "So, how much longer?" Surprisingly enough, the plane hadn't disturbed my essence as much as I thought it would.

"A few hours. You were out for quite a while."

"How long, exactly?"

"At least twenty-four hours." I looked away. Twenty-four hours isn't long for a djinni to sleep - we're beings without time - but for humans it was as though I'd fallen into a small coma. It was a good sleep, though. I remembered memories I had locked away within myself and promised to forever forget. Most of these memories were dreadful, but some of them I put away because they were _too _happy, because they'd pull me down if I called them back. And they had done their part. I fully understood why I was so distant from Ptolemy now, and why he was still so close. I started to feel close to him again, back to the way I used to feel when I was still in his service.

Then, as if out of nowhere(13), the piolet said, "We'll be landing in Egypt momentarily. Please remain seated and prepare to depart." Kitty turned to Ptolemy, ran him through the standard procedure. I didn't listen however; thoughts and heartaches of Egypt were running through my mind. Nothing else was important to me then - all I cared about was the geological beauty of Egypt. In my opinion, there was no better place.(14) Locked memories flooded through the keyholes of the locked doors they were imprisoned behind, slapping me in the face.

Part of me found this pathetic, but I shoved the thought way. It wasn't pathetic, it was how a djinni's subconscious works. We're all created with this...locking system enabled in our "minds." If you live as long as we do and witness everything we have, you'd be begging to forget and never remember, too.

I looked over to Ptolemy and just studied him. Sitting there, he represented everything I ever was, everything I could ever be, everything I had ever seen, anything I had ever loved.

* * *

(1) Saying this specifically because you humans are so dense.

(2) I was in Ptolemy's form, as usual.

(3) I could see parts of the words.

(4) Another thing I like about Kitty - she was able to convert her emotions to her use.

(5) Except for a few of us sparkling gems who do possess the skill. I won't mention any names.

(6) C'mon. It was a piece of paper. You wouldn't have checked it, either.

(7) Texts are powerful spells that change the words around on a piece of paper. They're extremely hard to detect, and even harder to create. I'd only seen them used in action a handful of times.

(8) Very embarrassing, that was. If I had the right sort of pen, I would have scratched that out.

(9) Skipping the small part of my blunder, of course.

(10) Djinn actually have the disability of being able to keep their essence perfectly clean. We can breathe in the debris of toxic fumes (which usually causes pandemoniums) and we can accidentally swallow things without realizing it. That was precisely what came up.

(11) Or whatever you call it. This was my first plane ride, so shove off.

(12) Djinn don't _need _sleep, but when we're comfortable enough (which is a rarity indeed), our consciousness slips away. It's the equivilent of "blacking out" for you humans, only djinn can be woken whereas humans are stuck in their minds until their subconscious decides to set them free.

(13) I knew it came from speakers, though. Did you? Didn't think so.

(14) I don't care about your opinions, so don't bother.

* * *

**A/n **

**OMG! AN UPDATE! I'm as happy as you are :) I reread the series, and now I have enough inspiration to finish this. I can't believe the updates are so far behind! The area of the notebook I'm typing out of is still full of my handwriting when it was huge...that was over three years ago! Obviously you'll notices differences in the writing styles, but I'm trying to make it as subtle as possible. I'm also considering editing the entire story, because - upon rereading this - I have realized the loopholes in the plot. Almost like Swiss cheese. XD. PLEASE bear with me as I finish up the story, and be sure to give your opinion! Also, I've finished writing it, so all I have to do it type it. Therefore it shouldn't take too long for this story to finally come to it's end. Thanks to all my fans out there who read and review this, after having waited for so long :) **


	54. LIV: Kitty

**Chapter 54**

**Kitty**

Kitty was beginning to worry about Bartimaeus. He was too silent for his usual self...Usually you couldn't get the djinni to shut up. But no, on the plane he was about as talkative as a doorknob. She desperately wanted to hear the sound of his voice–through force of habit–although she didn't try to get him to speak. She understood that his essence was under more strain than usual under the confines of the metal aircraft.

Ptolemy, on the other hand, was quite the talker. Kitty smiled politely and tried to answer all his questions, but some were just too erratic. When this happened, she just tried to answer it to her best knowledge. He was an adorable boy (for some reason, she could never get _man _to stick,) but he asked too many questions for his own good.

After a while, Bartimaeus nodded off. This surprised Kitty, since djinn weren't supposed to need sleep. She tried to act as though it hadn't bothered her. While Bartimaeus was still sleeping, Ptolemy insisted on talking about personalities. He was very polite, but didn't actually know when silence was due. Kitty reasoned her presence was unnerving him, or the thought of being up in the sky so high. This was his first piece of twenty-first century technology, and Kitty could tell he didn't like it.

Time took its toll, though, weighing on Ptolemy's eyelids until he finally closed them and drifted off into a heavy sleep. Kitty sighed after she was sure he had left consciousness, leaned back, stretched her legs a little. Ptolemy's questions eventually took their toll on her–she was a solitary creature, used to living alone instead of entertaining company. She honestly had no idea how Ptolemy was able to talk to much.

Slowly, her thought processes came to a lull, and her head suddenly began to feel very heavy. Allowing her head to roll back onto her chair, Kitty stifled a yawn and closed her eyes.

As soon as beautiful REM sleep had opened its door to greet her, Ptolemy awoke and shook her a little. "Kitty," he asked softly, whispering in her ear.

"Mm? Wha? ...Go away!" She tried to bat his hand away, but he was persistent.

"It's Bartimaeus," Ptolemy hissed, pointing to her left. "Look!"

Kitty looked over and almost gasped when she realized Bartimaeus was–sleeping?–and allowing his form to change. "Bartimaeus!" She hissed, not daring to touch the djinni. From the waist down, his form had milted into a smoky fog, so much so that she could only barely make out the female's shape. "Bartimaeus!" She repeated, a little louder this time. The djinni snorted and rolled a little. "Barty?" Kitty attempted a goad, though her jeer fell on deaf ears. "Bartimaeus!" The minute she placed a hand on his arm, his eyes shot open.

"Hmm? Kitty, if I were human, I'd count this as sexual harassment."

Kitty rolled her eyes. "Bartimaeus, please! You fell asleep, and you're letting your form slip."

Bartimaeus looked down to his lap, following her gaze. "Oh." He sounded uncomfortable as he solidified his form. "Oops." He shifted under her stare.

"I thought djinn don't need sleep?" Kitty asked, completely oblivious to his embarrassment.

"We don't _need _sleep," the djinni corrected, "but we _can _sleep."

"If you don't need it, why'd you fall like a rock?" She folded her arms, unsatisfied with his answer.

"I was...comfortable." The woman frowned deeply, analyzing. "Sleep's good every now and again." There was a long pause before he asked, "How long was I out?"

Kitty checked her watch. "About twenty-four hours." At that exact moment, the piolet announced on his intercom that they'd be landing momentarily. He asked that they fasten their seatbelts for safety, and thanked them for choosing that airline. Kitty helped Ptolemy buckle his seatbelt, moved to her own.

Then a thought hit her. "Listen, Ptolemy, Bartimaeus...don't expect things to be exactly the same as they were when you last saw them." She bit her lower lip in anxiety.

"I know," Bartimaeus responded glumly as he changed his form into that of a flea. "More than half of me doesn't want to see it at all."

"This is the only option we have," Kitty reminded him, her voice a whisper.

The plane landed, came to a halt. The piolet gave the okay for them to depart, and the attendant guided passengers to the exit. Before they reached it, Bartimaeus cast a small Glamor on Ptolemy, making it seem as though he were wearing typical English clothing. Then they took their leave.

* * *

All around them, people moved; some buying tickets out of the country, tourists coming in, commuters running to their flights before it left without them. The noise level around them was nearly unendurable. Kitty held onto Ptolemy's hand tightly as she fought her way through the crowd, searching for their benefactor, Gohar Younas.

The lines were longer than any Kitty had ever seen before; it seemed the entire country, and its visitors, were cramming themselves into this one area. The noises and sheer amount of people pushed a claustrophobic wave over Kitty, and nearly gained control had it not been for the sound of Bartimaeus' voice in her ear. "Thirty-seven degrees behind us is a man holding up a sign with your name on it. Our dear benefactor."

Kitty turned to look and, exactly as Bartimaeus had said, noticed a young man holding up a sign with her false identity, Clara Bell. She debated with herself for the briefest of moments, then set off in his direction.

He saw them coming and smiled. It might have been her imagination, but Kitty thought his teeth looked too white to be natural, the canines too sharp. And was that a tint of yellow in his irises?

Kitty pushed down those suspicions, for now, and put on a cheesy smile for the benefactor. He was of a muscular build, but only a few inches taller than she. His skin was as ash white, a hue that unnerved Kitty somehow.

Immediately, she didn't trust hi.

He spoke first. "Welcome to Egypt, Ms. Bell. I've been awaiting your arrival." He lowered his head respectfully, then turned to Ptolemy. "And who, praytell, is this? I'm certain we have never met before, but your semblance is uncanny..." He bowed his head again.

"My name is...Nathaniel," Ptolemy whispered, bowing his head as well. "And no, I have not had the pleasure of meeting you prior to this day."

The benefactor nodded, the two of them raised their heads. "I must tell you, friends, that Gohar Younas is not my real name. I am Hector Bartholomeu. Come, let us discuss the issues at present elsewhere." He moved away, and Kitty followed, her grip on Ptolemy's hand stronger than ever.

* * *

**A/n **

**This is the first chapter where my most recent writing style becomes incorporated with the older style, the older chapters. I hope this flows well. Please tell me what you think, and let me know if there's anything I should consider revising. **


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